{"id":123419,"date":"2014-04-18T18:58:03","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T13:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=123419"},"modified":"2014-05-03T14:38:46","modified_gmt":"2014-05-03T09:08:46","slug":"unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/","title":{"rendered":"UNP Condemns Mattala Attack And Says Rajapaksas Made A Mockery Of Democracy, Civility And Decency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full text of the statement issued by Karu Jayasuriya,\u00a0Acting Leader, United National Party –\u00a0Chairman, United Leadership Council, UNP<\/p>\n

Where is law and order in this country?<\/b><\/p>\n

Mark the day. Thursday, April 17, 2014 would go down in Sri Lankan history as a ‘black day’. Elected Representatives of the people,\u00a0a team of UNP\u00a0Parliamentarians\u00a0five in number,\u00a0comprising\u00a0Ajith Perera, Eran Wickramaratne, R Yogarajan, Nalin Bandara and Ajith Manapperuma\u00a0visited the Mattala\u00a0Rajapaksa International\u00a0Airport and Hambantota\u00a0Harbor\u00a0projects, the\u00a0twin-white elephants<\/i><\/b>\u00a0of this Government. They were greeted with catcalls, stones and guns by the devotees and\u00a0supporters of the Rajapaksa clan in their own den. The electorate is that of the Speaker of the House of Parliament. The district is the playground of the President of the country and the visit was a basic expression of a fundamental right of each and every citizen of this country- freedom of movement.\u00a0While the President, just twenty hours before this horrendous incident,\u00a0was taking part in a traditional New Year Oil-anointment celebration,\u00a0his goons went to work, brandishing weapons of violence\u00a0and\u00a0exposing to the hilt,\u00a0the President’s hypocritical adherence to tradition and rituals. The Rajapaksas have made a mockery of democracy, of civility and of decency.<\/p>\n

\"Eraj\"<\/a>The\u00a0team of \u00a0Parliamentarians was\u00a0manhandled by the thugs of the regime,\u00a0intimidated by gun -trotting Hambantota\u00a0Mayor Eraj Ravindra Fernando\u00a0and harassed beyond shame by those who have been\u00a0brainwashed evidently\u00a0on the strict instructions of the godfathers of the Deep South- Rajapaksas.\u00a0Mayor Eraj Fernando carrying a loaded pistol was visible for everyone and has been\u00a0seen on camera, thanks to the alertness of\u00a0the media cameramen.<\/p>\n

This is not the country we should leave behind for our children to inherit. Political power does not\u00a0give this Government\u00a0or any other person, civil or uniformed, any privilege to curb the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution. The sheer impotence of the Police Department was in vivid display. Uniformed men were reduced to being mere spectators. Good governance, transparency, accountability and basic decency were all thrown out the window.<\/p>\n

This gross violation of societal discipline was once evidenced\u00a0long years ago in a different era. Now it’s revisiting us in a much more gruesome manner and the ominous signals that these latest incidents emanate would be extremely harmful to a growing young generation.<\/p>\n

It is with a deep sense of sorrow and nostalgia that we remember how the Opposition\u00a0Parliamentarians were-escorted\u00a0with serene\u00a0dignity and decorum to the then emerging Mahaweli dams and reservoirs.\u00a0Apparently the Rajapaksas and their cohorts don’t seem to understand the meaning of dignity and ethical behavior.<\/p>\n

This gross violation of basic human rights of our citizens must be condemned without equivocation. It is a slap on the face of every man, woman and child living in this land. It is with a great sense of responsibility and grave duty\u00a0that\u00a0I ask the Honorable Speaker of the House of Parliament,\u00a0who hails from the district in which this incident took place,\u00a0to appoint a panel of investigators\u00a0who are\u00a0of eminence and acceptability to go into this callous and violent behavior of\u00a0thugs and hooligans and submit the findings to Parliament. The victims were members of\u00a0Parliament and the attackers were directly identified as government-sponsored ruffians.<\/p>\n

The dishonorable behavior of the Police\u00a0officers,\u00a0who were present while this gross violation of human rights took place\u00a0and\u00a0yet were observing non-interference,\u00a0is a clear indication as to what power and armor\u00a0could do to shield\u00a0these wrong-doers.\u00a0We also condemn vehemently the remarks made by Ajith Rohana, the Police Spokesperson who has stated that if the MPs took their security details, the incidents could have been\u00a0averted. The Police spokesperson has become a Government propagandist and is not only a disgrace to the Police uniform but also to the government that is merely paying lip service to democracy.\u00a0The Police spokesperson is uttering outright lies and he should be made accountable for that grave misdemeanor too.<\/p>\n

This only lends credence to allegations at last month’s UN\u00a0Human Rights Council sessions that violation of human rights is a regular feature in Sri Lanka. Not only her citizens, but even the rights of lawfully\u00a0elected Parliamentarians are\u00a0in danger of being extinct.<\/p>\n

It is the right, duty and responsibility of every citizen in the country to condemn this act and seek justice via the highest legislative body of the country, Parliament.<\/p>\n

Karu Jayasuriya<\/p>\n

Acting Leader, United National Party<\/p>\n

Chairman, United Leadership Council, UNP<\/p>\n

April 18, 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":123421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nUNP Condemns Mattala Attack And Says Rajapaksas Made A Mockery Of Democracy, Civility And Decency - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UNP Condemns Mattala Attack And Says Rajapaksas Made A Mockery Of Democracy, Civility And Decency - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-18T13:28:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-03T09:08:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Eraj.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"497\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/\",\"name\":\"UNP Condemns Mattala Attack And Says Rajapaksas Made A Mockery Of Democracy, Civility And Decency - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Eraj.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-18T13:28:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-03T09:08:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Eraj.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Eraj.jpg\",\"width\":848,\"height\":497},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UNP Condemns Mattala Attack And Says Rajapaksas Made A Mockery Of Democracy, Civility And Decency\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UNP Condemns Mattala Attack And Says Rajapaksas Made A Mockery Of Democracy, Civility And Decency - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UNP Condemns Mattala Attack And Says Rajapaksas Made A Mockery Of Democracy, Civility And Decency - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2014-04-18T13:28:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-03T09:08:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":848,"height":497,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Eraj.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/","name":"UNP Condemns Mattala Attack And Says Rajapaksas Made A Mockery Of Democracy, Civility And Decency - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Eraj.jpg","datePublished":"2014-04-18T13:28:03+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-03T09:08:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Eraj.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Eraj.jpg","width":848,"height":497},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unp-condemns-mattala-attack-and-says-rajapaksas-made-a-mockery-of-democracy-civility-and-decency\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UNP Condemns Mattala Attack And Says Rajapaksas Made A Mockery Of Democracy, Civility And Decency"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Eraj.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123419"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124027,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123419\/revisions\/124027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}