{"id":143927,"date":"2015-05-02T15:03:59","date_gmt":"2015-05-02T09:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=143927"},"modified":"2015-05-02T15:07:33","modified_gmt":"2015-05-02T09:37:33","slug":"futa-demands-investigation-into-dons-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/futa-demands-investigation-into-dons-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"FUTA Demands Investigation Into Dons&#8217; Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>The Federation of University Teachers\u2019 Association (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=FUTA&amp;x=7&amp;y=2\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">FUTA<\/span><\/a>) has today demanded an investigation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/dr-nirmal-assaulted-by-slfp-snubs\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">into the yesterdays&#8217; attack<\/span><\/a> on Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri and Dr Kumudu Kusum Kumara\u00a0<span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">and that those responsible be brought before the law.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_111309\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Nirmal-Ranjith-e1382513813136.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-111309\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-111309\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Nirmal-Ranjith-e1382513813136-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Nirmal\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-111309\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Nirmal<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_135142\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Kumudu-Kusum-Kumara-e1424331358520.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-135142\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-135142\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Kumudu-Kusum-Kumara-e1424331358520-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Kumudu\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Kumudu-Kusum-Kumara-e1424331358520-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Kumudu-Kusum-Kumara-e1424331358520-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-135142\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Kumudu<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">On the 1st of May a group of persons brutally attacked former FUTA President and current media spokesperson, Dr <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Nirmal+Ranjith+Dewasiri&amp;x=11&amp;y=4\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri<\/span><\/a> and Dr <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Kumudu+Kusum+Kumara&amp;x=11&amp;y=4\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kumudu Kusum Kumara<\/span><\/a>, also a prominent public intellectual, at Kirulapone. Dr Dewasiri and Dr Kusum Kumara had been near the May Day Rally organised by SLFP snubs, MPs Wimal Weerawansa, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Dinesh Gunwardena and Udaya Gammanpila. Those attacking Dr Dewasiri and Dr Kusum Kumara had been shouting that they were responsible for defeating former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">Issuing a statement the FUTA said; &#8220;<\/span>Dr Dewasiri and Dr Kusum Kumara were fortunate to get away alive, thanks to the swift action of the police who had been providing security arrangements for the rally. The mob had even tried to attack the police vehicle which took away the two academics from the site.<\/p>\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>&#8220;This cowardly attack is a grim reminder of the kind of political culture that people thought\u00a0they had defeated on the 8th of January 2015: lack of respect for political dissent; use of\u00a0violence and complete intolerance of political opposition. It is extremely unfortunate, that these elements are allowed to behave as if nothing has changed. It is even more unfortunate, that they are provided a space in which to vent their hatred and intolerance and in fact are even encouraged to continue to behave in this manner, by elected representatives. As much or even more as we condemn the mob which engaged in this attack, we need to condemn the politics which engenders this kind of behaviour. It is the venomous political ideology spewed out by those who are no longer in power, after they have been defeated through democratic means, that is promoting the attitudes and actions that led to this attack.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack on our two members and colleagues. We demand an investigation into this event and that those responsible be brought before the law. Finally, we would like to reiterate that as university academics who have fought to uphold the rule of law, democratic principles and the right of dissent, our members cannot be intimidated by such cowardly attacks. We will continue to work for these principles and\u00a0support all endeavours to ensure that this country strives towards the political reforms which\u00a0the people voted for on the 8th\u00a0of January 2015.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"layoutArea\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":135142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>FUTA Demands Investigation Into Dons&#039; Attack - 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\/futa-demands-investigation-into-dons-attack\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FUTA Demands Investigation Into Dons&#039; 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