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Friday, 8 August 2014 00:33 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Dharisha Bastians
Amid fears of a crackdown on civil society movements, posters have emerged in Colombo Fort, announcing that at least two prominent human rights activists have puppies for sale.
The actual telephone numbers of civil society activists Dr. Nimalka Fernando and Sunil Jayasekara have been displayed in the photocopied posters that have appeared outside the Fort Railway Station, Dr Fernando said.
“This small poster had been pasted on the notice boards and on the bridge, where we congregate for demonstrations,” the activist told the Daily FT.
Dr. Fernando added that she had received a phone call from the Fort Police Station on Wednesday (6) night, asking her if she had dogs for sale.
“The caller said he was a night duty policeman attached to the Environment Police Division,” Dr Fernando noted.
She said the policeman had informed her that pasting posters was to be construed as polluting the area and he was calling to inform her it should not be done.
“Since he knew that I have no association with the posters, he said he would remove them,” Dr Fernando explained.
“I will now send a letter to Fort Police and IGP requesting them to apprehend any person putting up such posters since this would relate to an offence,” Dr. Fernando told the Daily FT.
The policeman had also given Dr. Fernando a second number on the poster which she had dialled and found belonged to Free Media Movement Convenor Sunil Jayasekera. Dr. Fernando said she had requested the police officer to keep a poster for her reference and action.
The activist said she had also received another call from a person claiming the information about the puppies had appeared on the internet. “But on probing, the caller could not give me information regarding the website,” she noted.
The development follows Monday’s disruption of a meeting of missing peoples’ families by an unruly mob at the Centre for Society and Religion in Deans Road Maradana. Several diplomats from the US and European missions were present at the meeting.
The incident has sparked a sparring match between the diplomatic missions and the Government after the US Embassy, whose acting Deputy Ambassador Michael Honigstein was at the meeting hall during the disruption, urged the administration to enforce the rule of law and permit all citizens to exercise their most basic human rights, including freedom of speech and assembly.
The Government responded, saying certain diplomatic members of the diplomatic corps once again appeared to be involved in a manner lacking in objectivity, in events organised for a particular region and community.
“This has led to the emergence of a pattern of such potentially volatile situations giving rise to the perpetuation of mistrust amongst communities at a sensitive juncture in the country’s history,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement referring to the incident that occurred at the Centre for Society and Religion in Colombo on Monday (4).
Dr. Fernando was at Monday’s meeting, while Free Media Movement Convenor Jayasekera has already complained about threatening phone calls after he condemned the disruption of a training workshop for Tamil journalists late last month, by another unruly mob. The group that stormed Monday’s meeting has since identified itself as the ‘Dead and Missing Persons Parents’ Front’. The group claimed that Monday’s meeting was aimed at gathering evidence from ‘LTTE families’ to provide the UN investigation into allegations of war crimes during the Sri Lankan war, that kicked off last month.
Lawyers Collective urges Government not to mislead public
The Lawyers Collective has criticised a Government statement in reaction to the events that unfolded on the premises belonging to a Catholic Church on Monday (4), saying it had cleared any doubt about the fact that the mob that disrupted the event had links to the Government.
“Religious Dignitaries and invited members of the diplomatic community witnessed with utmost horror the manner in which the unruly mob (which included Buddhist monks) invaded and intimidated a peaceful gathering and terrorized participants including children, using abusive language,” the Lawyers Collective said in a statement issued yesterday.
“If there was any doubt about the mob had direct links with the Government, such doubts were now cleared by the MEA, by justifying the violent intruders as a peaceful NGO termed “The dead and missing persons’ parents’ front”,” the statement said.
The Lawyers’ Collective has cautioned the public not to be misled by the inaccurate contents of the statement. The group said that such a group was unheard of before and it was unclear how such a powerful organisation had suddenly come into operation and managed to be recognised by the MEA in a day.
“The MEA also falsely states that these unruly mob sought access to the meeting to air their grievances but in fact the mob threatened the organisers to stop the meeting. The MEA implies that it was arguments between this group and the organisers and participants of the meeting which led to tensions, when it was abundantly clear to all concerned that tensions arose due to the illegal invasion of a private property and a private meeting by the unruly mob,” the Lawyers said. “The MEA has however chosen not to explain why law enforcement authorities failed to enforce the law against the violators of criminal law of the country in a private premises (belonging to the Roman Catholic Church). It also doesn’t explain why the Police refused protection to victims, demanded cancellation of the meeting and asked that the Tamil participants from the north be sent back home.”
The group said the MEA statement was a continuation of whitewashing of the disruption of peaceful meetings in the country in violation of freedom of association.
