Lawyers group criticises Tiran Alles for personalising anti-drug initiative

The Lawyers Collective, a recently formed civil society group in a letter to Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, yesterday expressed grave concerns in the manner the Public Security Minister is exercising his powers in relation to the ‘Yukthiya’ Anti-Drug Campaign.

The organisation said the campaign must conform to the Rule of Law and cannot be a passionate, personal, initiative that the Minister seeks to implement outside the law. 

“The manner in which you are conducting this campaign and making public statements on the media indicates that you will consider any laws that you think restrict your authority as obstacles that you have every right to disregard and that all who comment or criticise the manner in which the campaign is conducted are drug dealers and drug addicts,” it noted. 

The organisation said the Minister has repeatedly referred to lawyers in this manner, despite a statement from the Bar Association of Sri Lanka objecting to this attack on the legal profession. 

According to them, these statements indicate that the Minister has no regard for the oath of office he has taken to hold the high office of a Minister with a sense of responsibility, and as a public trust, according to the laws and Constitution of the country. 

“Your statements are a violation of the fundamental rights of citizens. They also fail to recognise the right of lawyers to represent clients. They do so in conformity with professional responsibilities to the Court, in the administration of justice. Your statements which amount to a rejection of international law show a surprising ignorance of the obligations of the State of Sri Lanka and its Government under ratified international human rights treaties,” it said. 

The organisation also found fault with the Minister’s support for the Acting IGP and said the Minister cannot have any role in the appointment of an IGP. “Your own personal endorsement of Deshabandu Tennekoon continuing in his post as IGP, and expression of confidence in him, amounts to a total violation of the rule of law as explained by the Supreme Court of our country,” they noted. 

It urged the Minister to understand the true meaning of “Yukthiya” as linked to the implementation of the Rule of Law as stated in the Constitution, the Torture Act and other laws, and the decisions of the courts of law. “It is unfortunate that as a Minister in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka you are acting as if you were exercising executive powers in a type of governance known as a dictatorship,” he added.