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Sri Lankan court allows rights case hearings on Tamils |
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20:20, July 26, 2007 |
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Thursday allowed further hearing of a rights petition against the eviction of the minority Tamils from the capital Colombo.
Officials said the court has allowed the petition filed by the think tank Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA) against the government's decision to evict some 300 families from Colombo on grounds of national security.
The case will be taken for hearing in November.
The police in early June took steps to send back Tamils who were temporarily lodged in Colombo to their northern and eastern home towns.
The CPA claims in their petition that the decision to evict Tamils from Colombo was a violation of fundamental rights.
The government says the move was necessary to ensure safety in the city as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels use Colombo lodges as bases to strike in the city.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority ethnic Sinhalese-dominated government, the LTTE has been fighting for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's 12.5 percent Tamil minority since the 1970s.
About 5,000 people have died in the new turn of violence in the conflict since the end of 2005.
Source: Xinhua
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