Premachandran in parliament in February exposed the existence of this camp, and asked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to investigate it.

The PM said later that according to the Navy commander, no such camp existed, which justice minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa confirmed.

Investigations

Speaking to the media in Jaffna on March 16, Premachandran countered these responses, saying it was unfortunate the present regime has disregarded his exposure as a Tamil MP, although it is taking much pain to show that irregularities committed during the previous regime were being investigated.

He questioned as to why the government was not showing the same interest it shows to probe such irregularities when investigating repressive acts of the previous rulers.

This is an indication that the new government is no different from its predecessor when it comes to the rights of Tamils, Premachandran charged.

Witnesses

He said a secret camp called Gotabhaya existed in Trincomalee, where no less than 700 Tamils, including 35 families, had been detained, adding that authorities would evacuate such camps following his exposure.

The MP said he was prepared to present witnesses if a proper investigation is conducted and if the safety of the witnesses is guaranteed.

According to him, nothing has been heard of more than 20,000 people who had been taken in buses before their relatives during the last days of the war.

49 inmates

Meanwhile, the prime minister’s office says in a statement that only 49 LTTE members are being kept, under the government’s rehabilitation programme, at Poonthottam rehabilitation camp, according to jdslanka.org.