Gajendrakumar calls for tougher punishment for Lohan

By Dinasena Ratugamage

The incident concerning Minister Lohan Ratwatte must not be relegated to a discussion at the UNHRC, TNPF leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said yesterday.

Ratwatte is reported to have forced himself into the Anuradhapura prison, on Sunday (12) and made two Tamil political prisoners kneel at gunpoint, threatening to kill them.

“The TNPF condemns in the strongest possible terms this dastardly behaviour of the State Minister. Tamil political prisoners are already traumatised for being held in detention under one of the most draconian pieces of legislation known to the world, the PTA,” he said.

MP Ponnambalam said that the Minister who was supposed to look after the affairs of prisoners, threatening to kill them couldn’t possibly make their trauma any better.

“The UNHRC has issued a statement and said that they are closely monitoring the situation. There is no point in this, they must do something more,” he said.

MP Ponnambalam said that Ratwatte’s resignation from one of his portfolios is not enough and that the government must punish him for violating a number of laws.