Centre Urged to Take Up Tamils’ Issue With Sri Lanka

The CPI-M today urged the Centre to take up political and diplomatic efforts to ensure full rehabilitation and resettlement of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

Expressing concern at the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, a resolution adopted at the party's 20th congress said the Centre should also impress upon the Sri Lankan government to conduct an independent and credible enquiry into alleged human rights violations there and reach a political settlement,based on devolution of powers to the northern and eastern provinces.

The party stood for a united Sri Lanka where Tamil minorities could live in peace with the majority Sinhala community, the resolution said and appealed to all democratic forces in the country to find a political solution to the Tamil question.

In another resolution, the congress wanted the Centre to honour the assurance given by the Prime Minister to sympathetically consider the legitimate demand of large number of Bengali refugees to recognise them as citizens of India.

The congress also wanted a solution to the problem of suspected foreigners illegally living in Assam. Most of the foreigners’ tribunals set up for identifying syuch persons were not functioning, it said in a resolution.

The congress also decided to organise a year-long observance of the birth centenary of revolutionary Communist leader P Sundarayya from May 1.

FILED ON: APR 09, 2012 18:55 IST 

Family fears father among the 'disappeared' in Sri Lanka

smh.com.au.April 10, 2012

Ben Doherty, Dylan Welch

Worried family … from left, Aman Somaratna, 12, Champa Somaratna 

and Ama Somaratna, 18. Photo: Kate Geraghty

THE men came an hour before dawn on Saturday, carrying guns but wearing no uniforms, to tell the neighbours of Premakumar Gunaratnam to keep quiet. They encircled the leftist's house in Colombo and cut the power, before storming it and taking him away.

Mr Gunaratnam, a socialist politician with a long history in Sri Lanka who moved to Australia in 2006 under the skilled migration program, has not been seen since.

His wife, Champa Somaratna, a GP in Sydney, believes he has been abducted by security forces as part of a crackdown on political dissent by the conservative government of the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sri Lankan authorities have denied the charge and said they have no proof that Mr Gunaratnam has even entered the country.

Mr Gunaratnam, 46, is a well-known figure in Sri Lanka and was a long-time member of the country's main leftist party, the JVP. He recently announced his intention to form a new party.

His brother, Ranjitham, had been a student activist and a senior JVP figure until his alleged detention, torture and killing by the government in 1989.

When asked why her husband had been abducted by Mr Rajapaksa's government, Dr Somaratna said: ''In Sri Lanka there is no proper opposition. All the opposition [parties] are suppressed by the government.''

She said he had been staying at a house in north-west Colombo. Friends had gone to the house when he failed to attend an early morning meeting on Saturday but found it ransacked.

Dr Somaratna reported his disappearance to the Foreign Affairs Department and, in an unusual step, the Australian high commissioner, Robyn Mudie, immediately requested a meeting with the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary and brother to the President, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka alleges Mr Gunaratnam is a militant radical who has led attacks on army bases. A leaked state intelligence document circulating in Sri Lanka says he has at least four aliases and passports under false names.

"He was at one time a high-ranking subversive activist involved in many crimes, including the attack on the Pallekele army camp in 1987, and escaped from the Magazine Prison [in 1988], where he was detained under the Terrorism Prevention Act," the document says.

It alleges Mr Gunaratnam fled the country in 2006, having provided forged documents to the Australian embassy.

The veracity of the government's document and its claims could not be confirmed last night.

Groundviews, an agency monitoring Sri Lankan politics, said local media had reported 56 such disappearances in the past six months.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/family-fears-father-among-the-disappeared-in-sri-lanka-20120409-1wl6c.html#ixzz1rYSfwlK0

Sri Lanka: Abductions reach dangerous heights

 

Written by editor

 NfR Sri Lanka,  a network of Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders, condemns in very strong terms the recent abduction of Mr. Premakumar Gunarathnam and Ms. Dimuthu Attygalle, two leading political activist in the country.

According to reliable sources Ms. D Attygalle was abducted on 6^th April, late in the evening and Mr. Gunarathnam on the 7^th April early in the morning. Both of them are leading figures of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) of Sri Lanka .

The government of Sri Lanka was looking for Premakumar Gunarathnam for some time as he was tipped to be the leader of a new left political formation, FSP. The wife of Mr. Gunarathnam, Dr Somaratne, was detained with her two children for 18 hours at Colombo ’s international airport on 02 January and questioned about the whereabouts of Mr. Gunarathnam.      more »

Sri Lanka denies knowing missing Aussie

Monday, 09 April 2012

The Sri Lankan government has categorically denied involvement in the disappearance of an Australian man missing near Colombo.

Premakumar Gunaratnam, 42, from NSW, has been missing since late last week from Kiribathigodaj, a commercial hub on the Colombo-Kandy Road.

He is a political activist with the People's Struggle Movement in Sri Lanka.

Advertisement: Story continues below His wife, Champa Somaratna, says she fears for his life following reports from neighbours that he has been abducted.

"We know the secret police have taken him," she told ABC Radio.

"This is a life and death matter, I'm really worried."

She has called for the federal government to intervene.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokeswoman says the Australian High Commissioner in Colombo has spoken to senior Sri Lankan government officials to advise them of concerns for Mr Gunaratnam's welfare and to request assistance in locating him.

Consular officers in Canberra are in contact with the man's family in Australia, she said.

"We are seeking urgent clarification on the situation from the Sri Lankan authorities," the spokeswoman said.

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in Canberra Thisara Samarasinghe has told AAP the Sri Lankan government categorically denies allegations public authorities have kidnapped the man.

"We don't have kidnapping by our government," he said.

He said the Sri Lankan government had no record of an Australian passport holder of Mr Gunaratnam's name entering Sri Lanka in the recent past.

"Did he get into the country illegally and did he break the law of the land?" he said.

Mr Samarasinghe said he was seeking clarification from the Australian government through official channels.

He said Colombo police had not received any missing persons report about Mr Gunaratnam.

"We will be looking into this complaint and establish the identity of this person," Mr Samarasinghe said.

Mr Samarasinghe said he could understand the worry of the man's family.

"We are looking to see if their information is credible," he said.

He denied that Sri Lanka had "secret police."

Mr Gunaratnam's mother made an appeal on YouTube for her son's safety.

"I know his life is in danger," she said.

"I have lost another son earlier, Ranjitham Gunaratnam. He was also abducted in the same way and until his death I had never seen him."

Mrs Gunaratnam said she was scared her younger son would meet the same fate.

Rajapaksa – Tiger Deal On WikiLeaks And Political Analysis

Monday, 09 April 2012 

By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya -

Uvindu Kurukulasuriya

“Like many pundits, even Wickremesinghe, who brokered the Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE and probably has the most direct experience dealing with the Tigers of any national leader, was surprised by the Tigers’ decision to enforce a boycott on the election.” US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey Lunstead informed Washington in November 22, 2005. According to the “confidential” cable written by the Ambassador, on November 22, the Ambassador met with Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the opposition United National Party (UNP) and unsuccessful candidate in the November 17 presidential election by a margin of fewer than 200,000 votes.
The Ambassador wrote, “Wickremesinghe expressed surprise that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) blocked Tamils in the north and east from voting – a move that probably cost him the presidency.”
“Ranil Wickremesinghe noted that he had not expected the LTTE to block Tamils from voting in the north and east. He speculated that if current president Mahinda Rajapakse had won the election with Tamils in those regions permitted to vote, then the LTTE might have made the case that Rajapakse’s Sinhalese nationalist supporters were intractable and unwilling to accommodate the Tamil minority. However, Wickremesinghe posited, the LTTE undermined that claim and squandered any potential international sympathy by not letting Tamils vote. He assessed that the Tigers had not accounted for the international condemnation that ensued from ‘hardliners’ within the LTTE deciding to prohibit Tamils from voting.”       Read More

Two more MaRa regime sponsored abductions

 

(Lanka-e-News-08.April.2012, 11.55PM) The murderous MaRa regime has intensified its horrendous abductions of civilians further. An individual at Wattala and another at Trincomalee had been abducted by its criminal white Van.

A businessman residing at Hunupitiya , Wattala was abducted this noon . The victim is a 52 year old vehicle sales businessman.

When the victim was having a discussion with another businessman, a group that arrived in the Van at about 12.45 p.m. had threatened them , frightened the other businessman made him sit down , and abducted this victim. When the victim was being abducted in the white Dolphin model Van , the victim’s wife and son have followed it in a three wheeler. It was a defender vehicle that has given way to the white van driver to flee, Those in the defender were in army dress. As the three wheeler could not speed behind the white Van , they had given up the chase. The wife of the victim had gone to the Peliyagoda police to make the complaint , but the police had refused to record it. She had then lodged a complaint with the Kiribathgoda police.

A youth had also been abducted at Anbuvalipuram , Uppuveli, Trincomalee. According to the police , a complaint has been received that on the 6th morning , the youth had been abducted. This youth Raveendran Ramasamy who is 28 years old was abducted near the Trincomalee private 

Hospital.

Meanwhile .the opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe issuing a notice stated that serious attention is being paid to the mysterious disappearances of Premkumara Gunaratnam and Dimuthu Attygalle.

Abductions and disappearances have become a daily occurrence in SL . This is a clear index that laws and legal system of the country had gone to the dogs , and anarchy is the order of the day , the opposition leader bemoaned.

During the period of last six months alone , 56 cases of disappearances have been reported . Moreover , during the period of the Geneva sessions there had been 19 disappearances which signals a very serious situation , Opposition leader asserted.

HR battle: From Geneva to Washington now

Sunday April 8, 2012

Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp raps Government in report to US Congress More details emerge of infighting within foreign office; Dayan Jayatilleke's case the latest drama

By Our Political Editor

A string of diplomatic blunders saw a resolution on Sri Lanka being adopted at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva two weeks ago. A return to the route that brought the country under the microscope of the international community leaves behind a trail. The first international focus came when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon established a three-member panel of experts to examine accountability issues. It related to the separatist war that ended with the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas. In essence, the trio examined alleged war crimes by both the guerrillas and Sri Lankan troops and brought out damning indictments. Whether they are right or wrong is another question. Officially, the government of Sri Lanka took up the position that it did not recognise the UN panel. None other than the country's External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris declared that it was an advisory body that was tasked by the UN Secretary General and therefore had no sanction from the world body. Once again, whether that is right or wrong is another question. Nevertheless an official Sri Lanka delegation representing the government of Sri Lanka and headed by then Attorney General (and now Cabinet advisor) Mohan Peiris secretly testified before the Commission. It became public only after an exclusive revelation in the front-page of the Sunday Times. Formal confirmation came when UN panel's report was made public. LLRC Chairman C.R. de Silva presenting the LLRC report to President Rajapaksa in December last year read more..

Geneva Crisis

Monday, April 09, 2012

By Victor Ivan
It is correct for Sri Lanka to express its protest against the US sponsored United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution against Sri Lanka. Yet, the government had apparently failed to mobilize the protest move in a manner conducive to safeguarding the dignity of the country. The government’s approach has resulted in causing considerable damage to the good image of the country. The heated debate that was launched against the decision of the UNHRC was eventually brought to a climax with the Minister Mervin Silva suddenly entering the limelight assuming the anchor role of the protest move.     Read More »

A Wake up Call for Sri Lanka at the UNHRC

Smruti S. Pattanaik

April 9, 2012

India’s vote in favour of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) resolution against Sri Lanka titled “Promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka” is a well calculated move to provide the required push for resolving the Tamil issue. The general perception is that the Indian decision was prompted by Tamil Nadu politics and the pressure exerted by the DMK especially in the aftermath of the airing of the Channel 4 videos. However, the DMK’s demand may not be the only factor behind the Indian decision. What else explains the Indian vote in favour of the UNHRC resolution?

The Rajapakse government had earlier assured the international community and India in particular that it would forge a national consensus to resolve the longstanding Tamil question but that it needed time for this. Taking this assurance at face value, India had agreed that the Sri Lankan government must indeed be given more time to find an amicable resolution to the problem within the framework of Sri Lanka’s constitution. Moreover, there were other pressing issues that required the immediate attention of the Sri Lankan government, including the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), the screening of LTTE cadres and sympathisers, clearing of mines, etc.            More[+]

Pakistan PM was Jaffna Tamil’s student

ExpressBuzz

P K Balachandran

COLOMBO: Few in Sri Lanka or Pakistan would know that the man who taught high school level science and mathematics to the present Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, was a Sri Lankan and a Jaffna Tamil at that.    

Brother Emmanuel Nicholas, who taught Gilani at the La Salle High School in Multan in 1966 and 1967, belongs to Karampan, a village in the island of Kayts, off the Jaffna coast.

“I came to know Gilani in the very first year of my service. I was teaching Grade 9 and Gilani was one of my students. I remember him as a pleasant young man who was also very hard working. My association with him continued into Grade 10 because I too moved to Grade 10 along with him,” Emmanuel told Express.   Looking back, the 73-year-old Emmanuel felt that Gilani’s subsequent rise to Pakistan’s pinnacle was due to the values imbibed at La Salle.  

“At La Salle we inculcated the feeling that despite differences of various kinds, we are all human beings. I now see Gilani forging unity in a divided country, overcoming anger and hatred,” the teacher said.

Emmanuel found his way to Pakistan because La Salle Multan was run by a group of De La Salle Christian Brothers from Sri Lanka. He had also taught Anwar-ul-Haq, one of the sons of Gen Zia-ul-Haq. Zia was a Colonel in Multan then.

“Zia was a close friend. He asked me if I could coach Anwar in Maths and Science. I did, and Anwar went on to become a doctor. Zia was generous and a wonderful man,” Emmanuel said.  

The teacher went on to become principal of St Vincent’s, a school for very poor Christian converts from the Chura (Dalit) caste at Mianchennu, near Multan.   

Emmanuel left Pakistan in 1967. But he was destined to meet Gilani some 40 years later during the SAARC summit in Colombo in 2008.

“Gilani himself invited me to come over and see him, and sent a vehicle to pick me up. At his hotel suite, he introduced me to his colleagues as a very strict teacher! In October 2011, he recommended me for the award of Tamgha-e-Pakistan (Medal of Pakistan). The medal was given to me this year on Pakistan’s National Day,” Emmanuel said with a sense of fulfilment.

JVP rebel break away group leader Kumar and another member arrested ? Police say we did not arrest

Monday 9 of April 2012
(Lanka-e-News-08.April.2012, 11.50PM) Kumar who calls himself as the leader of the rebel group which broke away from the JVP and another member of that group , Ms. Dimuhu Attygalle have been taken into custody , according to Senadheera Gunatileke , another member of the group.

At a media briefing convened by Senadheera Gunatileke , G Kularatne and Pubudhu Jayagoda , it was revealed by Gunatileke that their leader Premkumar Gunaratnam and a member of the group, Ms.Dimuthu Attygalle had been arrested , and went on to state as follows :

‘There was a discussion among the seniors of the Socialist Front party on the 6th. Kumar Gunaratnam , Dimuthu Attygale and other comrades participated. Thereafter , Kumar Gunaratnam stayed at a party friend’s house in Gemunu Mawatha ,Kiribathgoda. On the 7th early morning , the air in the tires of the vehicle in which comrade Suranga of Gampaha was to travel along with Kumar had been released . At the same time the rear door of the house was also broken. Bags and other items of his in the room where he stayed had also been strewn about .

After the discussions , Ms.Dimuthu Atygalle came to Thalawatugoda along with Duminda Nagamuwa . From there Ms. Dimuthu went to Homagama where she stays by bus. It is midway on her journey , she had been arrested.

Initially their phones were not on. Later , though the phones were on , there were no answers.

The Socialist Front party ‘s convention is scheduled for 9th of next month. Kumar Gunaratna is also to participate in this convention which was reported even in the media. We think these abductions are aimed at disrupting the Convention and ,create conflicts and complications’

Senadheera answering a question posed by the media said, the police media spokesman had stated there had been no such arrests . Senadheera said ‘we too came to know of this arrest only his morning (7)’.Hence , only now a complaint is being lodged with the police. May be that is why he would have told that way.

A journalist questioned on the charges hurled at Kumar Gunaratnam linked to violation of immigration and emigration laws . Senadheera answered thus :
‘In the period 1987-89 , there existed a peculiar situation. Those who wanted to safeguard their lives had to go out of the country. Some had to hide in jungles. You have to view this allegation vis a vis those circumstances. Yet , no such charges have been leveled against comrade Kumar Gunaratnam. It is extremely clear this arrest is politically motivated.’

According to the police media spokesman , two complaints have been received by the police headquarters and the Kiribathgoda police at about 3.30 p m on the 7th pertaining to their disappearances / abductions, and investigations have been initiated . However , he said these two individuals have not been arrested by the police.
It is worthy of note that during the last one month alone , there had been 30 cases of white van abductions under this brutal murderous regime. Among those who came within the target of the white van criminals , is a Mayor and a Provincial council member. 

Indian HC talks with Pillayan

SUNDAY, 08 APRIL 2012

Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Ashok K.Kantha has taken up the issue on the vandalism of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Batticaloa with Eastern province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the Hindu online reported.

“India has taken up the issue of desecration and requested that the Gandhi statue be rebuilt. Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K. Kantha spoke to Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary K. Amunugama. conveying India's concern and requested urgent investigations into the incident. The High Commission has also taken up the issue with the Chief Minister of the Eastern province and the Inspector General of Police,” it stated.

It also said that, initial inquiries indicated it to be an isolated incident, and not the work of an organised group. This is the second time in a year that a statue has been desecrated.
 

The other three statues are of Tamil scholar Swami Vipulananda, poet Periyathampi Pillai and Scouts Movement founder Baden Powell.

Strong protest by India; Gandhi statue being rebuilt

Sunday April 8, 2012
By Chris Kamalendran

India yesterday strongly protested and expressed concern over the vandalizing of a statue of India’s independence hero Mahatma Gandhi in Batticaloa town and offered assistance to restore it.

A spokesman for the Indian High Commission said the protest was lodged with the External Affairs Ministry. “We have urged the Ministry to instruct the relevant authorities to carry out an inquiry into the act of vandalism,” he said.

The statue of Mahatma Gandhi was among five statues which were vandalized in Batticaloa town by an unknown gang.

Soon after India’s protest, the External Affairs Ministry issued a statement saying, “It has been brought to the notice of the Ministry of External Affairs that several important statues in the Batticaloa town have been vandalized. The Inspector General of Police has been instructed to carry out an immediate and thorough investigation into these incidents to identify motives and culprits behind these acts of vandalism”.

The Batticaloa Police yesterday sent a team of masons and sculptors to rebuild the damaged statue.
Two police teams have been deployed for the probe, but no arrests have been made so far.
Gandhi Seva Movement President A. Selvendran said the statue was declared open in 1960 by then parliamentarian S. Rajadurai.

He said the organization had lodged a complaint to the Batticaloa police about the damage caused to the statue.

The other statues damaged were those the scout movement founder Lord Baden Powell, scholar Vivekanandar and poet Periyathamby Pillai. However no action has been taken yet to restore them.

‘Lanka may miss chance to heal its war wounds’

April 08, 2012
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Hindustan Times
Sri Lanka has a “marvellous opportunity” to heal and reconcile its twin populations after 25 years of civil war, says Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka’s former prime minister and president.
 Which is why she is more than a little baffled at the slowness with which the Mahinda  Rajapaksa 
government is building post-civil war “bridges.” “Such opportunities do not last forever,” she warned.

“That is why they are called windows and not something larger.”

In New Delhi for the first annual conference of her own South Asia Policy and Research Institute (SAPRI), Kumaratunga said that since retired from active politics six years ago, she had dedicated herself to two international organisations, the Club of Madrid and the Clinton Global Initiative.

“Now I have created my own foundation,” she says. 

SAPRI will look at issues regarding the subcontinent, Kumaratunga says, engaging research scholars globally on these topics.  These deliberations will result in policy recommendations which will be communicated to policy-makers and professionals.

Sri Lanka is still fertile ground for the dissemination of such ideas. While the civil war has seen some repair work accomplished, Kumaratunga says still more needs to be done in terms of physical reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Kumaratunga led Lanka during some of the bloodiest years of the civil war. Today, with a Tamil minority “who want rights but of whom only a small minority still talk of a homeland,” she seems worried Colombo doesn’t recognize what a good thing it has going for it.

Rajapaksa’s abrogation of her promise of Tamil political devolution – a decision he had been party to at the time and did not oppose – was one reason Kumaratunga declined to support him in the last elections.  “Even though he called me eight times asking for support,” she remembers.

Kumaratunga strongly denies she backed the rival candidate, General Sarath Fonseka. "Normally I would have supported Rajapaksa: I am still patron and member of our party. But I could not support some of his policies.” So she stayed out of the campaign altogether.

If she is concerned at Rajapaksa’s minority policies, she is “bewildered” by his foreign policy. “In my time, we practiced nonalignment, which meant keeping good relations with the entire world,” she says. This led many Western countries to agree to ban or limit the activities of the Tamil Tigers. Kumaratunga is clearly discomfited with Rajapaksa’s confrontational policies with the West and his rhetorical claims to having new “friends” in China, Myanmar and Iran.

“Relations with India are essential and crucial,” she stresses. Which leads her to wonder, after New Delhi’s recent United Nations vote against Sri Lanka, what has changed there. Two years ago, in similar circumstances, India actually canvassed on Lanka’s behalf. “Somethings must have changed,” she says. “I do not know what they are.”

Unsurprisingly, a key interest of SAPRI, besides development and poverty alleviation, is how such issues lead to conflict. Kumaratunga is much taken with Frances Stewart’s work on “horizontal inequalities” and their connection to violence and conflict. “The first priority is that all sections of a population must be brought into a development process,” she says. “That is the theme of the conference.”

Destruction of venerated statues of Tamil nationals continues : another destruction in Jaffna

Monday 9 of April 2012
(Lanka-e-News-07.April.2012, 11.30PM) The decapitation of two more statues held in esteem by Tamil nationals has been reported in Jaffna.
An unidentified group that entered two Hindu temples (Kovils) in the Jaffna district yesterday night had broken the heads of two statues of the Vel carts. It is the statues in the Kopay Karanpitu Pillayar temple and of the Achchalu Kovil, Jaffna that are carried in the Vel carts making their sacred rounds (Velam Varudhi) which have been so destroyed.

Once a day the Kovils are visited and these statues are cleaned . These damages had come to light when the Kovils were visited for cleaning. These statues were in good shape yesterday , but when cleaning was to be done on them today , these damages had been discovered. It is believed that some dastardly group had entered and caused this damage.

Yesterday , valuable statues of Mahatma Gandhi , Sir Baden Powell , Swami Vipulanandar and Tamil national poet Pulavar Periya Thamby were also vandalized- they were found decapitated.
The Tamil people of those areas are of the conviction that these damages are being caused to statues which are venerated by the Tamil people ,are in order to demonstrate the anger against India for voting in disfavor of SL at the Geneva conference on the US resolutions . It is significant to note that these barbaric destruction of statues are being carried out freely and without any hindrance in districts coming within the high security zones .

LeN revealed before on 4th April the news related this as “20 members of MaRa’s PSD murder squad paramilitary force now in Jaffna to create mayhem : conspiracy exposed” 

Premakumar Gunarathnam arrested:JVP dissidents

SATURDAY, 07 APRIL 2012

JVP dissident leader Premakumar Gunarathnam and member of the dissident arm Dimuthu Attigala have been arrested early this morning, the JVP dissidents said. The dissident leader of the JVP was arrested in Kiribathgoda while Attigala had been arrested in Thalawathugoda, a spokesman of the media unit of the Progressive Socialist Party said.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, frontline member of the JVP dissident group Pubudu Jayagoda said that the arrest was made by the state defense establishment. “ The arrest was made by the countries security forces but they have been denying this. We will take all possible legal measures  against the arrest. We are now in the process of lodging a complaint at the IGP’s office” he said

Addressing a press conference held today in this regard Senadheera Gunathilake a member of the newly formed party said that the arrest was preceded by intimidation. “There was a meeting that was held last night, this morning when one of our comrades visited the house in which Gunarathnam was staying at around 4 in the morning he had seen that the tire of the vehicle Gunarathnam was supposed to travel was deflated. Later when he went in, he saw the backdoor of the house Gunarathnam was staying in broken and some of his belongings kept in the room being disrupted” he said. 

When contacted the Police said they were unaware of the arrest. (K.B & H.F)