It was a moving scene opposite the Colombo Fort Station, when mothers, wives, children, brothers and relatives of victims of abductions and disappearances cried at the demonstration held to protest against all acts of violence in the city of Colombo and its suburbs.

It was a demonstration organized by Civil Monitoring Committee, and a number of political parties and civil activists participated to agitate strongly against violence in the society today. In order to pressurize the Lankan government to stop violence of all kinds, there is an urgent need to make the agitation broad based one.

We find a large number of abductions and disaperences in the government controlled areas, although the security is tightened all over the country and particularly in the city of Colombo and its suburbs. According to the information available with the Civil Monitoring Committee, there have been 54 abductions in Colombo city alone, a very large number of whom are Tamils and there is no information about what has happened to 36 of them. While 9 of them have been confirmed killed, 9 people have been released after their paying a heavy ransom.

In the mean time, such acts of violence continue in the North-East daily. No actions have been taken by either the Inspector General of Police or by the President in regard to the complaints made about such acts of violence. There were only assurances of taking strong action.

Dr.Wickremabahu Karunatne, the Leader of the New Left Front, who addressed the demonstration, made an allegation publicly that the police are unable to take stern action against the offenders because there is political interference.

The government, therefore, must take stern action against the offenders. The President must pause a while and address his mind on the deplorable situation in which the human rights are violated in this island.

An English translation of the Editorial in Thinakkural, a Tamil daily, based in Colombo

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed