Critical Questions Arising From The Incidents At Weliweriya
Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda
The news from Weliweriya is really distressing. The whole country is in a state shock hearing the impact of Army-Police assault on the civilians. The exact number of deaths is not known. First it was said that few were injured at the scene. Later it was reported that 4 or 6 are dead. The people of this country have a right to know the exact number of the dead and the injured.
In such situation of atrocity, a concerned citizen of this country, has a right to ask whether such killings can be tolerated? Could such a protest by the innocent and unarmed civilians demanding a basic necessity of life i.e. drinking water be targeted with bullets? Whatever the questions one may raise, killings at Weliweriya cannot be justified on any grounds. It must be reiterated that nobody in sound senses would order to confront the citizens (a harmless demand of about citizens of 10 villages) with bullets when their demand is just drinking water, one of the basic necessities of human life.
The people at Weliweriya neither acted on imagination nor got mobilized by sheer selfish political interests. They were motivated by a real need; water without which survival is impossible. The monks who participated in this struggle vouched that the need is genuine. Only those drunk in polluted water of power consider it otherwise.
What Noori Estate And Weliweriya Teach Us
Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena -
When will Sri Lankans take matters into their own hands and teach this arrogant if not foolhardy Government some sharp and telling lessons in just rule?
Incredibly shocking pattern of events
This week, one innocent teenager died and more than twenty five civilians were injured as a result of the army shooting at unarmed protestors atWeliweriya who were demanding that water contamination in their area, allegedly by a factory, be stopped. Proportionate and restrained civilian law enforcement is now firmly a thing of the past. Inhumane assaults by soldiers of protestors, journalists and even those who were merely caught up in the unholy melee have been recorded despite the army’s denials.
Usage of live ammunition against demonstrators by the police and the army is a peculiar feature of theRajapaksa administration and is bolstered by the large numbers of anti-riot weaponry and ammunition which were acquired post-war. Weliweriya, which resembled a mini-war zone during this incident, is only the most recent casualty. We will see far more excesses in coming months. In fact, the ironies in comparisons with a war situation that the Sri Lankan people foolishly thought was over in 2009, crops up time and time again. Just a few days ago, the Chief Priest of Noori, Deraniyagala in the Kegalle District, in detailing the terrorizing of his villagers from as far back as 2008 at the hands of local politicians benefitting from high political patronage, referred to his area as being ‘un-cleared’.
