By IANS
Colombo : Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake Sunday took full responsibility for the government's decision to throw the Tamils from the capital expressing regrets that the expulsion "should never have been done".
Facing criticism from right groups and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing concern, Wickramanayake said: "We accept responsibility. I express regret and apologise to the Tamil community on behalf of the government."
Dismissing claims by the country's police chief Victor Perera that there was no "forceful expulsion" of Tamils, the prime minister termed the police action "wrong".
"What happened is wrong," Wickramanayake said rejecting the police chief's statement posted on the defence ministry website Sunday defending the police action.
"You cannot justify it under any circumstances," the prime minister said adding, "We want to tell the Tamil people that everyone has a right to live anywhere."
He said the government would also consider compensation for the Tamils who were forcibly removed although no compensation scheme was immediately announced.
Last week, government forces rounded up 376 Tamils who they described as temporary residents in Colombo, and sent them to the northern and eastern regions as a security precaution amid a worsening ethnic conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives in 19 months.
Soon after the Supreme Court ordered an end to the expulsions, 186 of them were brought back to the capital while others elected to return to their hometowns, said Rohan Abeywardana, a senior police official.
About a quarter of Colombo's 800,000 residents are Tamils with another 200,000 are temporary residents.
Violence has been continuing unabated in the island republic in recent months, despite a 2002 ceasefire and multiple attempts by European and Japanese envoys to persuade the government and separatist Tamil rebels to return to peace talks.
On Saturday, government troops and Tamil rebels exchanged fire in the northern Vavuniya district but there were no casualties, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.