The Sri Lankan Army accused the Northern Province Councillor and campaigner, Ananthy Sasitharan and other politicians of making "misleading statements" that were "politically motivated" about the Sri Lankan police's arrest and detention of the prominent disappearances campaigner, Balendran Jeyakumari and her 13 year old daughter, Vipoosika.

Rejecting international concern over their arrest, the Army asserted,

"The actions taken by the law enforcement authorities are well within the existing legal framework and are carried out to ensure peace, territorial integrity and national unity."

Ananthi Sasitharan addressing UNHRC on March 14th

Explicitly naming Ms Sasitharan, who raised the issue of Ms. Jeyakumari's and Vipoosika's detention to UN Human Rights Council member states, during an address to the Council on Friday, the Army said in a statement issues today,

"The allegations made by Ms. Ananthy Sashidharan and other politicians with vested interests that this arrest was carried out as the suspect was one of their supporters is incorrect and totally baseless.  Such misleading statements are politically motivated and we reject these attempts to hide the truth."

Accusing Ms. Jeyakumari of giving shelter to an armed criminal, the Army claimed that her 13 year old daughter was "also taken in to protective custody as there was no adult in the neighborhood willing to give shelter to her."

See full statement by the Sri Lankan Army below:

A team of law enforcement officers conducting an investigation into recent distribution of hand bills in the north by LTTE propagandists with a message detrimental to national unity have trailed a known ex LTTE cadre named Gobi who had escaped from Vavuniya Welfare Centre immediately after the end of conflict.  On reliable information that the suspect was hiding in a house in Killinochchi area, on 13 March 2014 the team went to arrest him.  The suspect who was in possession of a gun opened fire and escaped wounding an officer who is now hospitalized.

When the house he was hiding was searched a F-3 type Metal Detector which is used to detect metal objects/mines buried underground was found in the premises.  The owner of the house a woman named Balendran Jayakumari was taken into custody for harboring an armed criminal wanted in connection with an ongoing investigation.  Her young daughter (a minor aged 13) was also taken in to protective custody as there was no adult in the neighborhood willing to give shelter to her.

The woman was produced to the magistrate courts and has been detained after following due legal procedure.

The allegations made by Ms. Ananthy Sashidharan and other politicians with vested interests that this arrest was carried out as the suspect was one of their supporters is incorrect and totally baseless.  Such misleading statements are politically motivated and we reject these attempts to hide the truth.  The actions taken by the law enforcement authorities are well within the existing legal framework and are carried out to ensure peace, territorial integrity and national unity.

See related articles:

Tamils protest in Vavuniya against detention of Jeyakumari and Vipoosika (15 Mar 2014)

BTF: Arrest of disappearances campaigner underscores need for strong UNHRC resolution (15 Mar 2014)

SL Foreign Minister dismisses concern over arrest of disappearances campaigner and daughter (14 Mar 2014)

TNA condemns arrest of Tamil activist, govt trying to 'send a message' says MP (14 Mar 2014)

‘This is a serious threat' warned detained Tamil campaigner in interview to C4 last month (14 Mar 2014)

Heavy military presence in Vanni (14 Mar 2014)

Detained Tamil campaigner held under PTA act by TDI (14 Mar 2014)

Tamils fearful after disappearances campaigner and daughter arrested by SL police (13 Mar 2014)

Tamil 'Disappearances' campaigner and 13y daughter held by Sri Lankan military (13 Mar 2014)