{"id":128564,"date":"2014-07-31T12:29:41","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T06:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=128564"},"modified":"2014-07-31T12:36:26","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T07:06:26","slug":"kidnapping-of-5-year-old-reflects-rajapaksas-failure-to-protect-citizens-ahrc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/kidnapping-of-5-year-old-reflects-rajapaksas-failure-to-protect-citizens-ahrc\/","title":{"rendered":"Kidnapping Of 5 Year-Old Reflects Rajapaksa\u2019s Failure To Protect Citizens: AHRC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kidnapping of the five year-old child from Galgamuwa is a clear indication of the Rajapaksa regime\u2019s failure to execute its primary duty of protecting its citizens and reflects the President Rajapaksa\u2019s failure to comprehend the primary function of a government.<\/p>\n

\"Damindu<\/a>

Damindu Yasen Kumara<\/p><\/div>\n

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issuing a statement today on the kidnapping of the child has pointed out that although three days have passed since the kidnapping and Police investigations have failed to uncover any news on the whereabouts of the child or about the identities of the kidnappers.<\/p>\n

Five year-old Damindu Yasen Ekanayake was attacked by a group of four masked men on Monday from his home in Katugampalagama village in the Meegalewa Division.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis incident exposes the failure of the government to carry out its primary duty of providing protection for its citizens,\u201d the AHRC statement reads pointing out the prevalent plight is resulted by the\u00a0\u00a0 government itself dissolving the most important institution \u2013 Sri Lanka Police Service, that is supposed to carry out the duty of protecting the citizens.<\/p>\n

Recalling a recent statement made by the President of the Bar Association of\u00a0 Sri Lanka, Upul Jayasuriya where he expressed disconcert over the IGP becoming increasingly powerless to lead his own institution, the AHRC points out that growing influences of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on the operations of Sri Lanka Police Service has resulted in this situation.<\/p>\n

The statement asserts that the Police has lost its institutional capacity to work within a basic organizational structure and notes that paramilitary groups such as the STF or the military cannot replace the a functioning Police system.<\/p>\n

The AHRC has stressed on the fact that the present situation has arisen as a result of a fundamental change in the control of Sri Lanka Police Service following the 1978 constitution, which the Rajapaksa regime has further continued through the implementation of the 18th amendment.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the statement notes that due to the institutional paralysis of the Sri Lanka Police Servicem, the crimes have increase and the MoD has turned into a major agent of causing failure of policing and therefore has hindered any REAL development in the country despite the propaganda of the Rajapaksa regime concerning the rapid infrastructure developments in the island nation.<\/p>\n