Sri Lanka: Lawyers For Democracy (Lfd)

April 10, 2012

A Statement from Lawyers for Democracy forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

Sri Lanka: Lawyers For Democracy (Lfd) Sees The Series Of Abductions As The Undisclosed State Policy Of The Government To Suppress Dissent

Urges the Government to disclose what happened to Gunarathnam and Attygalla!

Continuing with its episode of abductions, Sri Lanka is presently witnessing a well planned series of disappearances of dissenting voices. It was reported this week of two activists Premakumar Gunarathnam and Ms. Dimuthu Attygala of the Movement of People's Struggle, a breakaway group of the JVP. This group has been challenging the undemocratic actions of the Rajapakse Government and two of their activists had been previously abducted in Jaffna, which has been strictly under military control. From the available information in the public domain, it is reasonable to infer that the defense authorities are directly involved in these abductions.

LfD firmly believe that all political parties, groups and citizens have a democratic right to engage in political activities including to change the government by lawful means. However, these recent abductions are a warning to the remaining few dissenting voices in Sri Lanka not to organize themselves in challenging undemocratic actions on the part of the government. Seriousness of the government move must be viewed in a backdrop of a collapse of Rule of Law under the present political leadership and in a inexplicably militarized exercise of political power.

Therefore we urge the President and his Government to take meaningful measures to immediately stop these abductions and deal with those who are responsible for it. We also remind the government that the most important human right for all citizens is the right to life; that should be respect at any cost. Thus there is duty on the part of each citizen of this country and the international community to closely monitor this situation and take all meaningful steps to restore dignity of human life in Sri Lanka.

Lal Wijenayaka and JC Weliamuna

Conveners of Lawyers for Democracy
9th April 2012

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

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