TUC President Saman Ratnapriya addressing a media briefing held in Colombo yesterday (10) said that it was very apparent that the government is involved in the abductions of these persons as they were abducted by 25 armed men in the heart of Colombo with no action taken against the suspects.
“Kumar Gunaratnam is a dual citizen of Australia and Sri Lanka. According to the law of the country, such a person is able to engage in political activities whilst being present in the country. However, there is no right for these persons to be abducted. There is also a particular procedure that needs to be followed when a person is taken into custody which was not followed by the police when Gunaratnam was abducted,” he said.
Ratnapriya said the government has no choice, but to take responsibility for the abduction of Gunaratnam as the government had previously detained his wife and children at the Bandaranayake International Airport (BIA) to be questioned on his whereabouts. There is absolutely no democracy in the country and the remaining percentage of the democracy is fast fading.
“There have been over 56 abductions within the past six months, yet the government has nothing to investigate into the abductions. A few weeks back, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva asked Parliament to grant vacation for MP Duminda Silva from Parliament. The law on the other hand wants Duminda arrested. The police say they are still trying to find the whereabouts of Duminda Silva. All these institutions fall under one government so how could there be such contradictory viewpoints? It is due to such a corrupt system that there is no democracy in the country,” he said.
He also said it was apparent there was no democracy in the country as court orders were being constantly issued before any form of trade union action or protests could be held, and human rights activists were being condemned by government media organizations for expressing their views on sensitive topics.
By Atarah Senn
CT