by Saman Indrajith

The JVP-led Women for Rights has urged the government to stop finding fault with those who highlight the ongoing forest destruction and take action to protect the environment.

Addressing the media at the JVP headquarters on Friday, Secretary of the WFR Samanmalee Gunasinghe said that the government had instructed some ministers to insult those who exposed the destruction of the environment.

“We have seen on several occasions some leading ministers humiliating females, who raised their voice against the enviromental degradation. What the ministers should have actually done was to look into the issues of felling of trees and clearings of the Sinharaja rainforest instead of slandering those who came forward to raise their voice against the destruction of the environment. We call on all progressive people to condemn those ministers and their henchmen who use derogatory language against the females fighting for environmental rights.

Leaders in other countries take the lead in protecting the environment while ours are leading the destruction in various ways on some pretext or the other. Their critics are labelled Opposition activists.”

Chairperson of the WFR, Saroja Savithri Paulraj said: “The government ministers should not forget the fact that 52 percent of the total population of the country are women and 56 percent of those with voting rights are also women. We have seen some ministers verbally abusing and calling various names on Devani Jayatilaka and Bhagya Abeyratne for raising their voice for the safeguarding of environment. They were threatened and humiliated.

“We are ready to take to the streets together with other environmentalists to protect them. It is a shame that some ministers are abusing their power to silence the voices for environmental conservation.

“There was a time when the ministers tied some public servant to trees and we knew what happened to those governments. This government gets its ministers to threaten and intimidate the public servants and whistleblowers. The ministers should know that their actions would have consequences.”

WFR Executive committee member Prabhashini Wickramasinghe also addressed the press.