The Sri Lankan government today ordered an extensive probe into allegations that the military had stormed a meeting of Sri Lanka's main Tamil party TNA and assaulted lawmakers and their supporters in the northern Jaffna peninsula last week.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse ordered the Jaffna Army Commander, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, to conduct an extensive investigation into the alleged attack on the meeting of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Kiliweddi area on June 16, the state-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation said.
Gotabhaya, the powerful brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, directed the army commander to immediately arrest the culprits, the report said.
He pointed out that such attacks cause enormous harm to the ethnic harmony in the Northern Province, which is recovering from a three decade ethnic war.
He asked the Jaffna army commander to prevent such subversive activities at a time when Jaffna was on the path post-war development, the report said.
Last week, the TNA had accused an army officer of leading a team of 30 soldiers to carry out the attack and breaking up the meeting to discuss the local government elections scheduled for July 23.
A statement issued by the TNA had said several TNA members of parliament were beaten up by the troops who also attacked the police bodyguards assigned to the opposition lawmakers.
Major General Hathurusinghe had met the relevant TNA parliamentarians and held talks over the issue. He underlined that the army has no intension to disrupt the hard-won peace in the Jaffna area by unleashing violence.
PTI
