Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who served as defense secretary during his brother Mahinda Rajapakses regime, has been accused of disappearances, abductions and war crimes and now launched an attack on journalists since he became president. Ten years after the end of the communal war, the military is still occupying the North and East. Armed forces have been deployed throughout the Jaffna town in a situation where curfews have been lifted and people begin to move. It is also reported that the civilian officials in the North are very displeased with the military takeover of most of the civilian activities, including the corona work and the distribution of subsidies. Over the past month, the Sri Lankan army and police have been reportedly harassing poor people in the North using curfews in Sri Lanka in the wake of the Corona epidemic.
These people are being harassed by people coming out of their homes for lack of necessities, including food and water. The Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission has received nine complaints. Seven of them are against Chavakachcheri, Vaddukkoddai, Kopay and Point Pedro police stations and Elephant Pass. Many families in Jaffna have been affected due to lack of drinking water. One of the complaints received by the Human Rights Commission is the brutal assault on the people who come to get water. The most recent incident was the April 25 attack on a resident of Vatukovil in Jaffna when he went to the Sittakeesi Guna Devi Temple for water. He was brutally assaulted and beaten by the police. During the curfew, fishing was allowed by the Navy, but those who went to sea to sell their produce were fired. On April 7, the Navy attacked four persons who were trying to get sea leeches on the night of the Sillarman Thuda beach in Poonakadi in the Kilinochchi district. Thirty-two-year-old Selvakumar had broken his arm.
On April 7, Indrallal and his brother, who were engaged in fishing in the area, were assaulted by 10 naval personnel surrounded by Julian, who is studying at the University of Jaffna. The office of Nadarajalingam Thushanthan, a journalist of the Mogulvan web site, was brutally attacked by a group that broke into the office at around 5.45 pm on March 30. These attacks and the release of assailants, while protecting the military and police forces, have been used in the backdrop of violent attacks on innocent people coming out of their homes to get water to drink while the curfew is being implemented. There is every doubt that the attack was carried out. People in the South are also being harassed, accused of breaking curfews. Forty thousand people have been arrested and nearly 10,000 vehicles have been detained. Most of them are out of home to get the essentials.