Weliweriya: A Massacre Of The Innocents
Ajit Rupasinghe
Massacre or legal killing sanctioned by the Constitution?
Do the killings in Weliweriya amount to a massacre? A massacre would be a deliberate act of mass murder committed against an unarmed population to terrorize and silence a people. A massacre would constitute a war crime. A crime against humanity. It would be an act of war against the people, in a symbolic and concentrated form. Are the Weliweriya killings legal, as sanctioned and mandated by the Constitution? We were taught that the Constitution is meant to defend and protect the people from such threats to their lives and freedoms? Is it that constitutions are merely toilet paper used by tyrants to cover up their tyranny? If the killings are deemed legal and constitutional, that is if they are considered to be prescribed in Law, then that would be the law of tyranny, not the Rule of Democracy. I mean, you cannot go around killing unarmed civilians, just because you cannot tolerate dissent. The Law would then simply be the writ of the Dictator. Then, the people would have no other recourse but to overturn the verdict- and overthrow the Regime and the State that prescribes the Law that allows them to be shot and killed while raising their grievances in peaceful protest and agitation. What if the killings are deemed unlawful, extra-legal, constituting a crime against the people and humanity? Then the killers, right up the chain of command, would have to be identified and prosecuted accordingly. The prosecution should be carried out rigorously with complete transparency by an independent judicial commission-certainly not by the armed forces themselves, nor any agency loyal to the Regime. If that does not happen, the Constitution and the Rule of Law would be proven to be nothing but weapons of deceit and repression. Then the people would have no right nor obligation to obey such a Constitution nor Rule of Law, nor a Regime nor State that legitimates such crimes against the people and against humanity. What happened to the inquiry over the massacre of some 27 inmates at the Welikadaprison by the armed forces of the State?
Who are the real victims and the real criminals? Read More
Sri Lanka's opposition Chief Whip John Amaratunga today demanded a debate in the parliament in regard of the deaths occurred in Weliweriya in Gampaha district in military involvement to disperse a group of people agitating for the right of safe drinking water.
Government Chief Whip Dinesh Gunawardane, Minister, said that the final decision regarding the debate may be taken at the meeting of the leaders of the parliamentary groups held today.
Delivering a special statement in the parliament today, the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe questioned why the Army was called to disperse a civilian agitation in a non-major town.
He demanded an independent investigation about the incident.
In response, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the military called to manage the violent protest had to take self defensive and civilian security measures in the context of protestors attacking the personnel with Molotov Cocktail and shooting.
SriLanka's opposition demands parliamentary debate and an independent probe on Weliweriya killings
8/07/2013
Sri Lanka's opposition Chief Whip John Amaratunga today demanded a debate in the parliament in regard of the deaths occurred in Weliweriya in Gampaha district in military involvement to disperse a group of people agitating for the right of safe drinking water.Government Chief Whip Dinesh Gunawardane, Minister, said that the final decision regarding the debate may be taken at the meeting of the leaders of the parliamentary groups held today.
Delivering a special statement in the parliament today, the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe questioned why the Army was called to disperse a civilian agitation in a non-major town.
He demanded an independent investigation about the incident.
In response, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the military called to manage the violent protest had to take self defensive and civilian security measures in the context of protestors attacking the personnel with Molotov Cocktail and shooting.
