{"id":210614,"date":"2020-05-18T21:02:44","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T15:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=210614"},"modified":"2020-05-18T21:03:27","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T15:33:27","slug":"stop-militarisation-lawyers-for-democracy-tells-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/stop-militarisation-lawyers-for-democracy-tells-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Militarisation: Lawyers For Democracy Tells Government"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cLawyers for Democracy\u201d see a serious crisis developing due to authorities concerned acting under a misconception regarding the 30 year war which was against an armed struggle and our forces were able to successfully defeat and the war against the pandemic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Covid-19\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Covid-19<\/span><\/a>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>The war against Covid-19 cannot be defeated by the use of military power or by adopting military strategies and tactics.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>The war against Covid 19 has to be led by the Public Health Authorities of our country and it is they who should be in the front line in this war.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>The main supporting force has to be the public service from government agents, divisional secretaries, down to village level public servants such as grama niladharies, samurdi niyamakas, govi niyamakas, etc.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>The tri forces has an important task to play in support of the public health authorities and public service in implementation of their decisions and strategies. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-209350\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-2.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-2-300x177.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In this context the move by the government to deprive the Public Health Authorities the sole right to decide on policies and strategies in fighting this war and to give the leadership to the forces ignoring the important role of the public service is of great concern. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We \u201cLawyers for Democracy\u201d view these moves of the government as a further step towards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=militarisation\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">militarization<\/span><\/a> of the state.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>The appointment of a retired Major General as the Secretary of the Ministry of Health clearly shows this trend.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We lawyers for Democracy calls upon the government to stop this trend and to strengthen the fight against Covid-19 by assigning the leadership to Public Health Authorities and Public Services. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><em><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">Lal Wijenayake\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>On behalf of the Conveners<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":235,"featured_media":209350,"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-210614","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 - 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