Chubramaniam Vignarajah of Aurelia Road, was one of 18 people arrested in a series of international raids by immigration and police ,which included addresses in London, Luton and Essex on Wednesday.

Mr Vignaraha has been charged with conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration along with two other men from Hayes and Northold. Two other suspects were charged with the same offence yesterday.

Six other people arrested during the raids have been bailed until July, pending further enquiries.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said the arrests were a culmination of a joint investigation into an alleged criminal network that is believed to assist Sri Lankan illegal immigrants trying to enter the UK.

The operation involved Home Office Immigration Enforcement investigators, Kent Police and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) as well as Europol and French and German law enforcement agencies.

As police raided address in the UK, raids were also carried out in France and Germany. Seven people were also arrested in France.

One asylum seeker, who cannot be named, emailed refugee lawyer David Manne from Christmas Island on Wednesday seeking his help to apply for refugee protection.

The email came after 31 Tamil asylum seekers were flown from Christmas Island to Sri Lanka after they were found not to be genuine refugees. Daniel Webb, from the Human Rights Law Centre, said such people were typically interviewed without legal advice.

Lawyers applied to the Federal Circuit Court for access to the two people and 12 others who, they believed, also wanted legal assistance. After negotiating with Mr O’Connor’s lawyers , they agreed on Thursday that the manager of Christmas Island’s detention centre would ”make available facilities at certain times and circumstances” for the two asylum seekers. They also agreed to provide two business days’ notice before removing them from Australia.

Talks are continuing about the other 12 asylum seekers.

”It’s been necessary to go to court … so that they know where they stand and are able to make any claims for protection as refugees in Australia without being expelled to Sri Lanka,” Mr Manne said.

But there were still concerns for others in detention without access to legal representation.

”If people don’t know their rights and aren’t able to present their claims and there’s a miscarriage of justice … we could be sending people back to the real risk of torture or death.”

By law, the government must give people in immigration detention ”all reasonable facilities … for obtaining legal advice or taking legal proceedings in relation to his or her immigration detention” at their request.

The Immigration Minister’s spokesman, Nick Wood, said the government was required to organise free legal assistance for asylum seekers only when they asked a Commonwealth official.

Justice Grant Riethmuller questioned whether asylum seekers would understand that legal assistance would be free.
The case was adjourned until 3 June.

According to officials, seven men, six women and eight children were nabbed from the New Cochin Residency, a hotel situated near the Ernakulam North Railway station, in the early hours of Thursday. The Sri Lankans came from Chennai by train and according to a statement issued by them, an agent named Subash took `1 lakh from each of them on Tuesday evening. “These people are from four refugee camps located near Chennai. They were planning to sail to Australia in a fishing vessel. The agent escaped during the raid. We are on the look out for him and information has been send to the police in Tamil Nadu regarding this,” an official of the Q branch said.

The Q branch officials, comprising a circle inspector and two sub inspectors, reached Kochi on Wednesday evening. The team, with the assistance of 10 officials from the Ernakulam North Police, conducted the raid. The officials have approached the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate for a transit warrant. The arrested would be taken to Chennai and produced before a local court there on Friday.

Observing that continuous efforts were made to provide citizenship to the Eelam (separate home land) Tamils living as refugees when DMK was in power, Karunanidhi said, “Recently, United States of America has decided to provide citizenship to 2.60 lakh Indians living in that country without any relevant documents.”

“Similarly, it is also our wish and request to the Centre to come forward and provide citizenship to over one lakh Eelam Tamils living in the country ensuring their permanent safety,” he said.

Such an effort taken by the Centre would guarantee their future, he added.

In a new development, villagers have driven out a group of surveyors sent by the authorities yesterday.

Thousands more are engaged in court action to try to win back land they were displaced from years ago.

Sri Lanka’s army defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels after a brutal 26-year war in 2009.

The military says it needs land for security purposes and insists it is reducing its overall presence there.

Opposition parliamentarian and lawyer MA Sumanthiran confirmed reports from Point Pedro, at the island’s northernmost tip, that dozens of landowners turned away surveyors sent by the government to inspect land earmarked for a new army barracks.

Land in post-war northern Sri Lanka is a highly contentious issue, pitting local Tamil people against the almost entirely Sinhalese army.

‘Colonised’ north

Two thousand people are petitioning the Appeal Court in Colombo to get back land which they fled during the bloody 26-year war. Northerners have staged street demonstrations on the issue.

The powerful military has occupied it for decades and now seeks to gain possession of it. Much of it – about 6,400 acres (26 sq km) – surrounds Jaffna’s airport and a harbour which is being developed for the navy.

In a recent article Jaffna-based lawyer and activist Kumaravadivel Guruparan, and a UK-based Tamil doctor, R Sivakami, described the process as “wholesale militarised seizure” conducted through “dubious” legal means.

They said that as a result “the ethnic demography of the north-east is effectively being re-engineered”.

Further south where the final bloody battles of the war were fought, the army says that it needs more land for what they call a “public purpose” – army camps and even army-run holiday resorts.

Human rights campaigners say such moves are keeping vulnerable people, displaced by the war, out of their rightful homes. They accuse the government of trying to “colonise” the Tamil north with Sinhalese.

But the military spokesman, Ruwan Wanigasooriya, described such talk as “absolute rubbish”.

He said the land acquisition was “for the security of the people who live there”.

“We have gone through 30 years of mayhem. We can’t afford a recurrence of conflict,” he added.

During the war the Tamil Tigers expelled 100,000 Muslims from the north, while several thousand Sinhalese fled Jaffna in the early years of the war.

Only relatively low numbers have so far returned.

Recently the radical foreign-based website Tamilnet has also reported army seizures of hundreds of acres of Tamil or Muslim-owned land in the ethnically mixed Eastern Province. The reports have not been verified.

Asked whether he would publicly campaign against the decision, the Gajaba Regiment veteran said: “As the Secretary, Ministry of Defence, my responsibility is to warn the government of the grave repercussions of empowering a hostile provincial administration with land and police powers. Police powers in the hands of those still pursuing a separatist agenda can pose a severe threat to national security.”The Defence Secretary said that the government should carefully examine the 13th Amendment to the Constitution without succumbing to international and domestic pressure. Declining to comment on the

SLFP-led UPFA being divided on the issue with some constituents, the National Freedom Front and the Jathika Hela Urumaya voicing strong opposition to the proposed polls, the Defence Secretary said that the northern provincial administration could pursue the eelam project.

Responding to a query, the outspoken official said that he accepted the need to hold the northern provincial council election. “But having paid a heavy price in the battlefield to eradicate the LTTE, it would be foolish on our part to create conditions for a new war,” the Defence Secretary said. “I cannot impose my will on the political establishment. But, I intend to tell those who still consider the 13th Amendment as panacea for all our ills, it’ll be the primary cause for another conflict,” he said.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday warned the government of dire consequences in case the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won the first northern provincial council election.

Tajapaksa that the government should immediately launch a wide ranging discussion on the 13th Amendment. “Let there be an open discussion on the issue. The legal fraternity can also examine it,” the official said.

Devolution of police and land powers meant that the Northern Province comprising the districts of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar and Kilinochchi could pose a major security challenge, the Defence Secretary said. A hostile administration could interfere with anti-terrorism investigations undertaken by the government as well as positioning of personnel in the northern region, he said.

Had the LTTE accepted the Indo-Lanka Accord (ILA) it could have had easily achieved eelam, the Defence Secretary said. Perhaps the LTTE, at that time, had failed to realize the 13th Amendment introduced in accordance with the ILA met its demand for a separate administration. Due to its arrogance and over confidence in military capability, the LTTE provoked the Indian Army to declare war on them in October 1987, the Defence Secretary said.

“The foundation had organised events and workshops for both the government and the opposition politicians. Even Keheliya Rambukwella and Mahinda Samarasinghe had participated at FNF organised events,” UNP MP Ruwan Wijewardena told a news conference today.

Explaining about the Frederick Newman Foundation MP Harshana Rajakaruna said the Germany based foundation was funded by the German Government. The foundation had established in Sri Lanka as a MoU between the two governments in 1988.

He said the FNF only seeks to share its Liberal Political views.

UNP MP Harin Fernando said some UNP MPS and several government MPs including Dilum Amunugama and Manusha Nanayakkara, had also taken part in a leadership programme organised by the FNF.

Vehemently rejecting the allegations of UNP supporting terrorism and hatching conspiracies to topple the government he said the media should be more responsible.

“As UNP members it is our duty to change the government. It is government’s duty to protect it without falling apart,” he said

The victims included political activists, business people and suspected criminals.

The report slammed Sri Lanka saying that Government officials and supporters harassed and threatened human rights defenders, journalists and members of the judiciary who spoke out about abuses of power or advocated human rights accountability.

The 2013 report which looks at the state of human rights around the world in 2012, said that in Sri Lanka unlawful detentions, torture and enforced disappearances remained rife and went unpunished.

It also said that despite the end of the war,  impunity persisted for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report also said that the government failed to implement recommendations aimed at accountability made by Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and the UN Human Rights Council.

“The authorities continued to rely on the Prevention of Terrorism Act to arrest and detain suspects for lengthy periods without charge or trial. Despite government claims, many people displaced by the armed conflict were not fully settled, including some whose land remained occupied by the Sri Lankan military,” the report added

Authoritative sources told to colombo news paper that Jaffna Commander had explained the circumstances under which some land had been acquired in accordance with the overall post-war development plan encompassing Palaly and Kankesanthurai. The acquisition of some land in the Valigamam north was necessary to expand the Palaly airport as well as the Kankesanthurai harbour, Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe told the visiting delegation.

India recently completed clearing the Kankesanthurai harbour of ship wrecks to pave the way for the expansion and related development work.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has repeatedly accused the government of taking over land in the Jaffna peninsula. Recently, a UNP delegation, led by its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, visited Palaly to examine the grievances of Tamil speaking people.

The Jaffna Commander said a section of the media, at the behest of certain interested parties, had been propagating lies to discredit the country. He explained the need for positioning troops within the Palaly-Kankesanthurai sector to face any eventuality.

Commenting on the ongoing resettlement programme in the Jaffna peninsula, the Jaffna Commander said that those displaced due to the acquisition of their land would be settled along the Jaffna coast. They would be adequately compensated, he said.

The visiting delegation was also briefed on the current deployment of troops in the peninsula and gradual decrease of the military presence since the conclusion of the conflict.

The Opposition Leader said that the issue would be taken to international fora and the MPs who attended the workshop had been accused of trying to overthrow the government. “Yes, we are trying to topple this government but that is through democratic means, through electoral process, by the ballot. That is our sole right as the Opposition. Now, the government has got the CID to harass our  MPs accusing them of trying to topple the government through undemocratic means.”

The UNP leader said that Sagarika Delgoda, who had coordinated the workshop on behalf of the Friedrich Neumann Stiftung, had been summoned by the CID and grilled from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. “Please stop this. We will not overlook this. This is a serious issue. We warn the government not to invite unnecessary trouble.”

The UNP leader said: “Several UNP MPs attended this workshop which was conducted by a resource person from Germany. The workshop was intended to share their experiences and to instruct them how to win forthcoming provincial council elections. Some of these members were contacted by the CID, which grilled Sagarika Delgoda of Friedrich Neumann Stiftung. She was asked whether they had links with the LTTE and also whether her organisation had funded the LTTE. She was asked whether the UNP was conspiring to overthrow the government. We would topple this government but not through conspiracies. We will overthrow this government through the ballot.”

The Opposition Leader said that the government had said that there would be an election in 2014. “Accordingly, the UNP is getting ready for that election. We have a right to do so, don’t we?”

The Opposition leader said that some government media outfits were being abused to stick the LTTE label on MPs who attended the workshop.

Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody said that the matter would be brought to the notice of the Speaker.