Friday Forum writes to President over rising crimes in Jaffna

The Friday Forum, a civil society group, has written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the increasing crimes in Jaffna.

The Friday Forum, is a concerned group of citizens who meet frequently, giving thought as to how they could help the government in accelerating socio economic development, ensuring good governance and solving the national question.

“We are gravely perturbed at reports of increased crimes of violence in Jaffna, including killings and abductions. This is taking place at a time when there is a strong presence of armed forces in the area,” the Forum’s letter signed by its member Jayantha Dhanapala has told the President in a letter.

“The tragedies of the individual victims are appalling. But this is not all. The main challenge facing the nation today is to win the peace. People living in areas most affected by the long years of armed conflict must now be assured by the government of their safety, security, and the protection of their basic human rights. Failure in this will seriously undermine the chances of post conflict social transformation, development and sustainable peace.

We trust that our concerns expressed above will be noted and addressed by you,” the Friday Forum letter to President Rajapaksa said.

Friday Forum, the Group of Concerned Citizens consists of - Jayantha Dhanapala, Rt. Rev. Bishop Duleep de Chickera, Professor Arjuna Aluwihare, Professor Savitri Goonesekera, Professor Gananath Obeysekera, Professor Ranjini Obeysekera, Dr. Devanesan Nesiah, Ranjit Fernando,  Sithie Tiruchelvam, J.C. Weliamuna, Jezima Ismail, Dr.A.C.Viswalingam, Manouri Muthetuwegama, Suriya Wickramasinghe, Dr. Deepika Udagama, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Ahilan Kadirgarmar, Lanka Nesiah, Dr. Cameena Gunaratne, Dr. Selvy Thiruchandran,  Shanthi Dias,  Dhamaris Wickramasekera, Professor. Stewart Motha, Suresh de Mel, Prashan de Visser, Daneshan Casiechetty, and C. Jayaratne.