Sri Lanka police arrest Jaffna Mayor using anti-terrorism law

Police say Manivannan is promoting the LTTE’s ideology, in the choice of uniforms for an environment task force of the local municipal council

Sri Lanka police’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) on Friday arrested the Mayor of Jaffna for allegedly promoting the LTTE’s ideology, in the choice of uniforms for an environment task force of the local municipal council. The move has drawn wide condemnation, incuding from the country's Tamil polity and civil society. In the early hours of Friday, police arrested the Jaffna Mayor Viswalingam Manivannan, in connection with the municipal body assigning light blue coloured uniforms to a newly set up team tasked with monitoring environmental violations. Police likened their uniform to that worn by the “police force” run by the LTTE in areas that the rebel outfit controlled during the civil war. Police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said “promoting” symbols associated with the LTTE, including uniforms, was an offence under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), a law that activists deem draconian, and have been campaigning to repeal. Last month the government expanded the ambit of the PTA, allowing the detention of anyone suspected of causing “acts of violence or religious, racial or communal disharmony”.