Protest at Sri Lanka truce monitors’ HQ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2005, 13:49 GMT]
An organization calling itself ‘National Fortress for Safeguarding Military Intelligence Officers’ protested in front the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) headquarters in Colombo Wednesday accusing the Nordic truce monitors of impartiality. Five protestors who were allowed into the SLMM office handed over a letter to the truce monitors urging them to secure the release of Inspector Jeyaratnam, the senior Sri Lankan Police intelligence officer allegedly abducted by the Liberation Tigers last week. The protestors shouted at the truce monitors, calling them ‘white tigers’.

‘National Fortress for Safeguarding Military Intelligence Officers’ is an ad hoc group backed by Jathilka Hela Urumaya (JHU), the ultra Sinhala nationalist party in Sri Lanka’s Parliament.

JHU leaders, Ven. Athureliye Ratana Thero, Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thero and former Sri Lanka Police Deputy Inspector General Mr. Kotakadeniya came to see the protestors while the demonstration was on at the SLMM headquarters premises.

All wheels of an SLMM vehicle were found deflated after the protestors left.

Their letter to the SLMM, among other things, states:

“We, ‘National Fortress for Safeguarding Military Intelligence Officers’, write to you identifying our responsibility and intent as responsible citizens to safeguard the military intelligence officers of Sri Lanka at a time the government of Sri Lankan is denying its responsibility in protecting them.

“We clearly view this type of no responsive behaviour (sic) as an indirect encouragement and a blessing for terrorism”.

“Serious doubts are growing among us about your impartiality in this so called peace keeping process in Sri Lankan”.

“Finally we do not wish to see any partialities that we have witnessed in the past from your mission on different issues.

“But if history repeats from your side, again by showing an insignificant and lethargic approach to resolve this grave and villainous act of abduction, as National Fortress for Safeguarding Military Intelligence Officers we would organize all the patriotic fronts and take every possible action to terminate your role in the peace keeping and monitoring process in Sri Lanka”.

Convener of the group is Mr. Palitha Wickramaratna of the Buddhist Foundation in Dehiwela, Colombo.