By Saman Indrajith

Chief Opposition Whip Kandy District SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella asked the government in Parliament yesterday whether it had employed mercenaries to attack protesters at the Galle Face Aragalaya site on 22 July.

Participating in the debate on extending Emergency regulations, Kiriella said that there were widespread suspicions that the government had employed mercenaries, other than members of the armed forces to attack the protesters at the Galle Face Aragalaya site.

“We too cannot comprehend the need for that brutal assault on unarmed protesters, who had announced that they would leave the site later in the day. There was no need for setting armed troops on protesters. We demand to know from the government who carried out that attack and whether persons other than the seucrity forces were involved in the attack. He said that the MPs who had lost their properties were bent on taking revenge. They want to attack the Aragalaya protesters. “We cannot comprehend how the President endorsed this attack to pacify those MPs because that would place this country in further difficulty. We have worked under him and it is our understanding that he knows much better than many in that camp of the possible international repercussions on an incident like this. Now all human rights activists, the world over, are calling to reject this government.”

Kiriella said that if the government thinks to run the country, making use of the Emergency regulations, then it surely had failed to read the prevailing situation in the country accurately. These Emergency regulations give powers to make arrests and detain people. The police and security forces could harm the privacy of people in the name of these regulations. These draconian regulations have been condemned by all nations in the civilized world. The EU and the UN have already demanded that these regulations should be done away with as they were a threat to the fundamental rights of people. When a person is taken under custody under these regulations, he or she could be held for 90 days without being produced before a court of law. It could be further extended. We are under the observation of the international community and they would not come forward to support this country if the government thinks to run it under Army jackboot.

Kiriella said that Emergency laws were in force soon after the Easter Sunday attacks. Those regulations lapsed four months later. “International norm is to consider that there is no political stability in a country when it is under Emergency laws,” Kiriella said, calling on the government leaders to restrain its members from slandering the foreign envoys in Colombo. These diplomats know their limits and they always would work under international laws. Now we see some government MPs find fault with diplomats for putting up twitter messages and social media posts against the attack on Galle Face Aragalaya and not showing the same concern with regard to people setting their houses on fire. The diplomats raise concern of the way a country is governed and they are permitted to do so by international law. Diplomats could raise concerns of government actions or omissions to act. They would not talk of other internal affairs. That is the international norm. We call on those who make fiery speeches blaming the ambassadors and high commissioners for failing to send tweet messages when those MPs’ houses were set on fire by people to check with the foreign ministry of the international norms and learn. The attack on Galle Face Aragalaya will produce a series of negative repercussions for this country on the international front,” Kiriella said.