Sri Lanka's Chief Justice Sarath Silva says civilians sufferring

Sarath Nanda Silva, who retires at the end of the month, chose the opening of a new court complex for his attack on the policy of interning Tamil civilians.

“They live outside the protection of the law of the country,” the country’s top jurist, an ethnic Sinhalese, said of the camp dwellers. “I am saying this in public, and ready to face any consequences. We are doing a great wrong to these people.”

Mr Silva’s remarks reflected the intimidation directed at those who criticise the Government, including at least 14 local journalists who have been murdered in mysterious circumstances since the beginning of the final offensive against the Tamil Tigers.

“Law of the country does not show any interest in these IDPs. I openly say this. The authorities can penalise me for telling this. I visited relief villages where Wanni IDP families are sheltered. I cannot explain their suffering and grief in words. It is an utter lie if we continue to say that there is only one race and no majority or minority in the country.”

The JVP leader said many have forgotten those who played a major role in defeating the LTTE today and recalled that late Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgramar, Chief Justice Sarath Silva and even the lawyers have also played a role in defeating the tigers.

The top judge, who is about to retire, said in a speech on Wednesday that there were no words to describe the displaced people's suffering and grief, as he put it, and their pathetic situation.

"I was unable to console them," he said.

He said there were queues of 50 to 100 yards (metres) for the toilet, and people living 10 to a tent.

The judge said that people were beyond the protection of the law.

But Mr Samarasinghe said this was not the case and that anyone, even those in the camps, had access to free legal counsel.

He said he agreed with some of the chief justice's criticisms of toilets and tents - facilities which, he said, were the responsibility of the UN children's fund (Unicef) and its refugee agency (UNHCR).

But a Unicef spokesman, James Elder, rebuffed the minister's allegation.

He said that ultimate responsibility for the camps rested with the government, and that the UN's support had been greatly hindered by the government's restrictions on access to the camps.