Friday, 12 December 2014 04:41
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Call on Police to do its job, charges transfers are still happening
Says incidents are spiralling, 87 reported, 9 involving firearms
Appeals to public servants to enable free and fair polls
Voters told to reject self-serving politicians
By Uditha Jayasinghe
As violations spiralled upward, election monitors gathered yesterday to launch a joint appeal to political parties and candidates to stop “shameless” abuses while condemning police inaction.
In a joint press conference the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), Movement for Free and Fair Elections (MFFE), Mothers and Daughters of Lanka and National Polls Observation Center (NPOC) appealed to the public to make sensible choices at the upcoming elections by picking a president who respected law and order.
They also made a passionate appeal to an estimated 100,000 public workers who are expected to assist in the upcoming vote, exhorting them to enable a free and fair election. Despite acknowledging that violations are increasing rapidly as the days count down to 8 January the monitors also focused on the unfulfilled role of police in safeguarding law.
“So far there have been 87 reports with 29 serious violations of election law. Of these nine were incidents of violence with firearms. Despite the presence of ample evidence, the Police have only recorded one incident as involving weapons,” CaFFE Executive Director Keerthi Tennakoon said.
He questioned as to how Police was classifying instances of armed violence, especially when a teams of Police visited sites in Maggona, Kandy and Harispaththuwa where bullet casings and grenade remains were in evidence, but failed to name them in the overall count.
Tennakoon alleged newly-appointed Law and Order Ministry Secretary Mahinda Balasuriya, who is also a former Inspector General of Police (IGP), is effecting transfers within the Police force, effectively bypassing the powers of IGP N.K. Illangakoon. Ahead of the election announcement more than 350 officers were transferred, he noted, adding the reallocations were still continuing.
“We will seek a meeting with the IGP very soon to discuss these disturbing developments. In the meantime we would like to assure that election monitors stand ready to assist any Policeman wrongfully treated for attempting to implement election law,” he insisted.
Highlighting instances of State property abuse TISL Executive Director S. Ranugge issued a notice detailing the costs of entertainment and functions at Temple Trees. According to a statement handed out by TISL Rs. 34 million was spent just to transport around 4,000 residents of the north for a ceremony at Temple Trees where the President returned gold deposited immediately after the end of the war by those in relief camps. Other abuses were also mentioned.
Commenting on the recent spate of crossovers, CMEV National Coordinator D.M. Dissanayake described it as “unsightly” but called on the voters to make the right decision on 8 January and pick the best politician who has the right policies and principles to benefit the country.
