Policing News from Sri Lanka
BHC document suggesting SF’s alleged involvement in Lasantha’s killing
[Apr 18, 2011]
: Prof. Wijesinha reveals date he was shown document
Police chiefs from SAARC nations to meet in Colombo
[3 April 2011]
Police chiefs of SAARC nations will meet in Colombo this week to tackle cross border crimes more effectively and strengthen cooperation among the law enforcement agencies in the SAARC region. It will be a prelude to the SAARC Interior Ministers’ conference on border crimes, shortly.
Police Chiefs of SAARC countries will meet for the ninth occasion in Colombo to discuss issues relating to terrorism, drug peddling and gun running crimes that have plagued the region. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will participate in the conference on April 4 and 5, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mahinda Balasuriya told a media briefing at Police Headquarters in Colombo on Friday.
Sri Lanka: Police begin “investigation”
[25 March 2011]
Last week, the Executive Director of the National Peace Council was called to the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police. He was informed that the CID wished to carry out an investigation regarding the organization’s sources of funding, its partners and the activities it was carrying out.
CID officers asked questions about the work of the National Peace Council and asked for further information. This investigation was preceded by adverse media commentary in both the state media and sections of the private media that NPC together with other non -governmental organizations continue to be funded by foreign donors despite the end of the war and claiming that they are serving the interests of their funding partners.
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Sri Lanka to reform laws and regulations
[24 March 2011]
Colombo, 23 March, (Asiantribune.com):The Justice Ministry is in the process of formulating reform to the Civil Procedure Code and is also drafting a new Sentencing Act to combat laws delays, reduce congestion in prisons and eliminate inappropriate penalties, Parliament was told today(23).
Chief Government Whip Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena made this disclosure while answering a question raised by ruling party National List MP Prof Rajiva Wijesinha.The Minister also said that the Justice Ministry is conducting training programmes for Judges, Magistrates and Police officers on issues relating to child protection, trafficking and mediation.
Today is Sri Lanka Police Commemoration Day
[20 March 2011]
It was on March 21st 1864, that a Police Officer, Sabhan of the regular service was murdered in the performance of his duties, even two years prior to the establishment of the Police service as a legally constituted state organization Day by himself, the first Inspector General of Police, Sir George William Robert Campbell.
It is in the recorded history that few days earlier to the incident of killing Sabhan, a Police Constable of the special grade-George Vanhaght who participated in a squad to search the house of the mother of Saradiel where he was supposed to have been in hiding was also shot dead.
SRI LANKA: Police produced a man before court with fabricated charges after torture
[18 March 2011]
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Allen Jo (29) 195/1 Welgampola Road, Nawawlapitiya in the district of Kandy was illegally arrested and severely tortured by the police officers attached to the Nawalapitiya Police Station on 28 March 2011. He was arrested accused for possession of drugs without any reason and later when the victim denied the accusation he was severely assaulted. Then he was produced to the court with fabricated charges. The victim vehemently denied the charges. This case is yet another illustration of the exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country.
According to the information the Asian Human Rights Commission received Mr. Allen Jo (29) of No: 195/1 Welgampola Road, Nawawlapitiya was illegally arrested, detained and tortured by the police officers attached to the Nawalapitiya Police Station on 28 February 2011.
Allen opened up a small business, selling short eats / fast food at Nawalapitiya town. On the 28 February 2011, Monday around 12.15 pm five police officers, including the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of Nawalapitiya, Mr. Udayakumar visited the business premises. Out of the five police officers 2 were in police uniform and three police officers were in civilian dress.
Dirty Tricks Department on war path with Sri Lanka Guardian
[27 February 2011]
This is not first time the Sri Lanka Guardian has faced attacks by the Sri Lankan media who are based in Colombo as well as abroad. Mr. K.T. Rajasingham a fanatical fan of the President Mahinda Rajapakse attacked us two years ago with fabricated charges that I had links with the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), an Indian intelligence agency who deal with external affairs. Mr. Rajasingham became a fan of the president through Dr. Palitha Kohona for no other reason than to gain political advantage and earn something, similar to what he did from his so-called friendship with Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan a.k.a. Col. Karuna Amman.
Still other media personnel write something about us without verifying their sources. Perhaps the defense establishment of the Country is closely monitoring our web site and it is contributors to find some juicy gossip about us. What they do not bother to understand or consider is that we are doing what we are doing in the name of journalism
Sri Lanka Police tear gas and disperse protesting university students
[24 February 2011]
Columbo: Sri Lanka Police today used tear gas and water-cannons to disperse students from the medical faculty of the Rajarata University protesting in downtown Colombo. The police dispersed the students after they had ignored a warning not to protest near the Presidential Secretariat.
Provincial Police Commission
[21 February 2011]
Eastern Provincial Council is to unilaterally establish the Provincial Police Commission stipulated in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, despite the fact that the Government was yet to take steps to delegate the police powers to the Provincial Councils, sources said today.
The Eastern Provincial Council would send a motion to President Mahinda Rajapaksa through Eastern Province Governor after adopting it in the council, according to the sources.The three member provincial police commission led by a Deputy Inspector General had to be appointed under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution once the President signs the relevant Gazette notification giving effect to the delegating police powers to the Provincial Councils
24 Indian fishermen remanded in judicial custody in Sri Lanka
[17 February 2011]
In a move that could spark fresh outrage in India, a Sri Lankan court today remanded another 24 Indian fishermen, accused of fishing ”illegally” in the country’s waters, in judicial custody until March 1.
The fishermen, who were produced before a Magistrate court in Jaffna, were remanded in judicial custody until March 1, the sources said.The detention of 24 fishermen took the total number of Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan custody this week to 136. Reacting to the incident, India today conveyed its “deep concern” over the detention of fishermen and asked the Sri Lankan government to take “necessary” steps to get them released.
Police Brutality in Sri Lanka: Police attacked innocent villagers
[16 February 2011]
Sri Lankan police has a world wide reputation for their indecency, brutality and corruption. The villagers in Galakada has protest in front of wildlife protection office demanding for a electric fence to protect them from wild elephants. The police brutally attacked and dispersed them. In a country where millions of dollars have been used for comfort of politicians, innocent citizens’ demands and democratic rights are been denied by the Rajapaksha regime.
Sri Lankan police recruits record number of Tamils in force
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Colombo, Jan 8 (ANI): A record number of Tamils have reportedly been recruited by the Sri Lankan police force at a ceremony near Colombo.
Currently, only a few thousand Tamils are a part of Sri Lanka’s 86,000-strong police force.The BBC quoted one of the new constables as saying that the move would help bridging the gap between the Tamil community and the police in the northern areas of the country.
Sri Lanka Police revert to traditional role
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
The Police Department has been called upon to rise from its prolonged security based duties to discharge more effectively its primary duty of maintaining law and order and preserving the peace.
The scope and the nature of police duties are currently being transformed into a well-functioning force of law enforcement to be tied with crime control and law and order maintenance on Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa s direction. Police Administration Senior DIG N K Illangakoon told the Daily News yesterday that heads of all Police Departments have been apprised on the importance of becoming functionally oriented at law enforcement and crime control following Defence Ministry instructions.
The police are focusing on carrying out normal police duties to maintain peace after their prolonged role with the military in the past.
Uthayan ‘worst hit’ of Sri Lanka’s media – RSF
Tamil Guardian 20 September 2006
The leading Jaffna daily, the Uthayan, is the “worst hit media” in Sri Lanka’s conflict, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) said Tuesday, voicing outrage about new armed attacks on the paper, in which gunmen burst into its offices in the Army-controlled town and threatened the journalists present twice in the space of three days.
“Uthayan is currently the worst-hit news media in the conflict between the government and the Tamil Tiger separatists, the LTTE,” the press freedom organisation said.
Sri Lanka Prison workers behind attack on police? SP among 44 injured
Monday, 8 November 2010 – 9:23 AM SL Time
A section of the Welikada prison staff is alleged to have instigated the inmates who set upon a special police squad during a search carried out at the Chapel Ward yesterday morning.
Officials say convicts had pounced on the unarmed officers shortly after they entered the complex. Police headquarters spokesman SP Prishantha Jayakody told The Island that among the personnel wounded in the incident were SP Ravindra Karavita of the Special Crimes Operations Unit, five Inspectors, six Sergeants, five Sub Inspectors and 28 constables. The wounded officers are now receiving treatment at the National Hospital, Colombo. Several prison officers were also hit by stones during yesterday’s riot. SP Jayakody said that the CID had been called in to investigate the incident. He dismissed reports of the elite STF being involved in the police operation. According to him, 70 police personnel had been assigned to carry out the search.
The police said that the convicts had been prepared to resist the police operation. An officer said that the attackers had a large stock of stones and targeted officers, most of whom received head injuries. Responding to a query by The Island, another official said that the search had been launched to recover drugs and mobile phones. The police had obtained a court order to search the prison. Earlier a similar raid was carried out in the women s section, where many mobile phones and a large stock of cannabis were seized.
Several prisoners, too, received injuries, when some police officers retaliated.
Sri Lanka police send ‘mass grave’ ashes for testing
25 November 2010
Police in Sri Lanka say that they have sent 24 bags full of ashes for testing from a suspected mass grave of government troops in the north-east.
Jailed Tamil Tiger rebels have told the authorities the grave contained the remains of 26 troops they captured and shot dead, officials said. They said that eight soldiers and 18 navy personnel were tortured and killed there in January 2009. Police say that a small amount of human bones had been found at the site. Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody told the BBC that in addition a “powdery substance” was suspected to be human ashes. He said that whatever was found had been sent for forensic testing.
A team of legal and medical officers and a government analyst has been sent to the site, bordering Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts. Sri Lanka’s long civil war ended in May 2009 with the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels. Both sides frequently accused each other of war crimes in the run-up to the end of the conflict.
Zardari in Sri Lanka: Counter-balancing India
(December 06, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan visited Sri Lanka from November 27 to 30,2010, at the invitation of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Among those who accompanied him were Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the Pakistani Foreign Minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, his Defence Minister, and Saleem Mandviwala, Chairman of the Investment Board of the Government of Pakistan. He was also accompanied by a delegation of Pakistani businessmen.
In an article on the visit titled “A new dawn in Pak-Lanka ties”, the “Daily Times” of Lahore said on December 6: “In the past, Pakistan helped the Sri Lankan state for three reasons. First, increasing Pakistan’s ability to participate in South Asian politics and posing itself as a counter-balance to India. Second, increasing its value in the region. Third, fighting Tamil militant forces, which are considered a product of Indian intelligence agencies. “
Pakistan’s value for Sri Lanka in the past came from its willingness to supply heavy equipment such as multi-barrel artillery guns and shells to the Sri Lankan Army for use against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It also helped the Sri Lankan Air Force in the servicing of its aircraft used against the LTTE. The heavy military equipment supplied by Pakistan and China helped the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in their operations against the LTTE.
Death Sentences Carried Out By The Police in Sri Lanka
When Extraordinary Explanations Justify Extrajudicial Killings
Arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings are an almost daily occurrence in Sri Lanka today. The police system and additional institutions expected to be the protectors of law have become so dysfunctional and politicized that illegalities predominantly are carried out in their names.
Extrajudicial killings are marked illustrations of how lawlessness reigns in the country after the rule of law system has broken down. The killings are symbols of the exceptional lack of respect for legal procedures and the rights of the citizens to such within the security agencies.
When essential mechanisms in what was supposed to be a rule of law system have ceased to function, the police do not have options or resources to conduct proper investigations. However, they are still required to clear up the cases. Killing as a solution is thereby a simple rationale.
In some cases death occurs due to the ‘heat of the moment’ where police officers might not have had the intention to kill, but violence and frustrations get out of hand. However, as just a quick overview of the cases the AHRC has reported in 2010 shows, most killings are clearly intended as a pattern of characteristic police procedure becomes visible.
Sri Lanka police investigate criminal dealings within the department
Wednesday, 20 October 2010 – 11:01 AM SL Time
Sri Lanka Police Headquarters announced today that around 500 police officials have been found to have deals with the criminals such as underworld elements, drug paddlers and gangsters.
A special team appointed by the Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya has recorded the details of these police officials, police said.
The Police Headquarters say that there are Deputy Inspectors General, Superintendents of Police, Assistant Superintendents of Police, and Police Officers-in-charge who are suspected to have links with the criminals.
Police Headquarters further say that several officers-in-charge are to be suspended soon.
Sri Lanka police ban critical posters – opposition
COLOMBO | Tue Oct 5, 2010 9:44pm IST
(Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s opposition on Tuesday said police have been ordered to arrest activists who put up posters criticising President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s backing of a prison term for a former army chief who ran against him.
However, police said the order was intended to prevent posters being placed in prohibited areas.
Rajapaksa last week upheld a court-martial finding Sarath Fonseka guilty of corruption while serving as army commander, which means the ex-general will lose the parliamentary seat he won after failing in his presidential bid.
Fonseka will serve 30 months of hard labour in a civilian prison where he was moved from military custody last week, marking a low point for a soldier who last year was glorified as a national hero for defeating the Tamil Tiger separatists.
Sri Lankan police attack protesting students
By Panini Wijesiriwardena
21 October 2010
The Sri Lankan courts denied bail on Monday to 18 university students arrested during a police attack on a protest last week demanding the release of six other students. The arrests are part of government efforts to suppress broad student opposition to the privatisation of universities and worsening conditions on campuses.
The students have been charged with “unruly behaviour” under the draconian Prohibition of Ragging and Other Forms of Violence in Educational Institutions Act, which was revived in April. Under the law, university authorities have sweeping powers to ban student political activities, including protests and occupations, and to call police onto campuses. Many offences cited under the Act are unbailable and liable to imprisonment for up to ten years.
More than 2,000 students took part in the protest last Thursday in central Colombo to demand the release of their fellow students. The protesters marched to the Ministry of Higher Education and occupied the building for about an hour before attempting to leave by bus. Hundreds of riot police blocked off all the roads and assaulted students with clubs, belts, tear gas and water cannon. Eight injured students were hospitalised.
Police to restructure itself
28 September 2010
By Supun Dias
Police Chief Mahinda Balasuriya has set up a police restructuring and supervision committee to look into malpractice and inefficiency at police stations and police projects. The committee is headed by Central Province DIG Gamini Navaratne with DIG Jayantha Gamage as his deputy. SSP Ravi Vidyalankara is the committee secretary.
The Rajapakse wonderland
by Tisaranee Gunasekara
(October 05, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Less than a month after the end of the Fourth Eelam War, the state-owned weekly Silumina carried a full-page interview with a local astrologer. ‘President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Rajapakses will rule this country for a long time,’ he predicted. ‘The next chapter in Sri Lanka is reserved for the Rajapakses.’ In Sri Lanka astrology is serious business, with politicians avidly soliciting favourable predictions. The political importance accorded to astrology by the Rajapakses was also on display when the authorities arrested an astrologer in June 2009 for making an anti-government prediction.
On 8 September, the last remaining obstacle to the establishment of this Rajapakse future crumbled. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution is a sui generis piece of legislation, designed to suit the politico-dynastic requirements of the president and his family. It enhanced the powers of the president even while removing the term limits that would bind him. Otherwise, President Mahinda Rajapakse would have had to retire from politics in 2017, an utterly unpalatable prospect from a personal perspective, and disastrously premature from a dynastic perspective
Third Sri Lankan suspect killed in custody this month
22 September 2010
Sri Lankan police have been criticised for heavy-handed tactics.Sri Lankan police have shot dead an underworld suspect in custody – in the third such killing this month.
Police said they arrested the man and took him to a home where he was thought to have stored drugs and weapons. According to a police spokesman, officers opened fire as the suspect then tried to hurl a grenade at them. But human rights campaigners suggested the shooting of Kamal Dammalaarachchi – who died later in hospital – amounted to an extrajudicial killing. “It is the duty of the court to punish those found guilty, if the rule of law prevails in Sri Lanka,” Chrishantha Weliamuna, a leading human rights lawyer, told the BBC.
Truck explodes at Sri Lankan police station
17 September 2010 15:48
An accidental explosion in a truck carrying explosives has killed at least 25 people in a police station near the eastern Sri Lankan city of Batticaloa. Military spokesman Major-General Ubaya Medawela said: ’25 people inside the police station have been killed. 16 policemen and nine civilians were among the dead.’
54 people were injured after three containers of dynamite blew up at the Karadiyanaru police station in the eastern district of Batticaloa. The truck was parked next to the police station in Karadiyanaru, near the eastern port of Batticaloa, when it exploded.
Asgiri Nayake Thera bestows blessings
6 September 2010
A leader loved by the people and sincerely committed to the welfare of the country should have the opportunity to rule the country without any legal constraints as long as the people desire so, said Asgiri Mahanayake Most Ven Udugama Sri Buddharakkhita Thera when he met External Affairs Minister Prof G L Pieris. The Minister was on a mission to brief the Mahanayake Theras on the proposed Constitutional reforms…
…The Minister further said, “in the present circumstances the President as Commander in Chief has the power to give necessary directives with regard the Constitution with respect to the Armed Forces. However with respect to police, this power has been devolved through the independent commissions. The proposed reforms intend to confer undevolved power to the President with respect to the police too.”
Oh, what a circus, what a show…
by Kishali Pinto Jayawardene
September 5, 2010
Colombo: There is a certain bitter irony over the weeping and wringing of hands indulged in by some this week in respect of what the draft 18th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s Constitution seeks to do to the country’s constitutional structures.
Early experiments in devaluing democracy
In the first instance, the utter consternation that is being expressed over this constitutional amendment is hard to understand in the natural order of things. The 18th Amendment Bill, in all its deeply subversive glory, is only a logical culmination of the deliberate displacing of Sri Lanka’s constitutional institutions, (with our blessings as it were), over the past decade.
Exceptional collapse in the policing system of Sri Lanka revealed by the assault of MPs inside a police station
An article by Rasika Sanjeewa Weerawickrama published by the Asian Human Rights Commission
19 August 2010
It is an alarming eye opener but yet just another incident experienced by many Sri Lankans in their day to day life that shows the reality of the practice of policing in Sri Lanka. While three members of parliament (MPs) and a Provincial Council member went to make a complaint at the Headquarters Police Station of Galle two of the MPs were assaulted and put into a cell. The police then filed fabricated cases against them. Sadly there is nothing unusual about this. However, it does show the inability of the Sri Lankan police and their unwillingness to implement the rule of law in the country.
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Animal sacrifice:An act of ‘barbarians’- Social leaders call for immediate end to brutal practice
By Gagani Weerakoon
‘A nation’s greatness and moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals’ were the words of great leader Mahatma Gandhi, and if that is the case, the question arises where Sri Lanka, as a nation, would stand where authorities or the society ignore preventing an inhuman act of sacrificing mass of animals in the name of a religion or rather a tradition practice even as the world have come forward condoning acts of primitive man as it has come to the end of the first decade of 21st century…
…Animal rights activists as well as Hindu and Buddhist religious groups are of the opinion that the Police, which is the institution that should ensure law and order in the country, has committed an offence by not preventing this ‘illegal’ act.
Sri Lanka police – a World Cup public relations disaster waiting to happen By Trevor Chesterfield in Dambulla
June 27, 2010
This is a timely warning to those in charge of Sri Lanka police. Get your public relations behaviour sorted out or face a World Cup disaster. Eight months from now the island nation is to act as one of the three South Asian countries hosting the 2011 edition of the World Cup. As part of security arrangements, it means the local police force, involved in venue safety regulations have until then to brush up on their public relations act. This also includes their top brass, who should know better, but are among the major offenders.
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Long live the corrupt!
Friday, 4 June 2010
Sports Minister C. B. Ratnayake has stirred up a hornet`s nest with his recent statement about corruption in State institutions. Acting IGP N. K. Illangakoon has taken umbrage over his remark that the police are the second most corrupt in Sri Lanka, the first and the third being the education establishment and the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) respectively. Senior DIG Illangakoon demands that the allegation of corruption against the police be substantiated before any conclusions are drawn.
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Six police stations in Mullaitivu soon
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Six Police Stations will be set up in the Mullaitivu District soon. Mullaitivu Special Forces Commander Major General Prasanna Silva told the media at the Mullaitivu Security Force Headquarters Monday that the six Police stations will be established within a fortnight. He said a decision was reached at a special discussion Tri Forces Commanders, Inspector General of Police and senior Military Officials had with Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at the Mullaitivu Security Forces Headquarters Monday. Major General Silva said the Mullaitivu District has only one Police Station with a single Superintendent of Police.
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