{"id":2892,"date":"2011-12-21T12:31:48","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T12:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/?p=2892"},"modified":"2011-12-21T12:31:48","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T12:31:48","slug":"wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: Nugegoda mob attack was directed by Presidential Secretariat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colombo Telegraph –<\/p>\n

\u201cA senior police officer (protect) confided to Pol FSN: \u2018police received instructions from the Presidential Secretariat to stop the rally and to assault participants if SIPDIS they did not adhere to the police instructions to disband.\u2019 The police source added that the Presidential Secretariat further instructed the police not to arrest the group led by Deputy Minister Silva. Local journalists told the BBC January 9 that \u2018police did not arrive to prevent the attacks by about 100 thugs.\u2019\u201d the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Deputy Minister Mervin Silva with underworld gangs at Nugegoda rally<\/p><\/div>\n

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeak database. The cable classified as \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d details Nugegoda mob attack led by Deputy Minister of Labor Mervyn Silva. The cable was written on January 10, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Blake wrote \u201cOn January 9 a mob led by Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Deputy Minister of Labor Mervyn Silva attacked demonstrators at a peace rally in Colombo organized by the United People’s Movement (UPM), according to credible media reports. The UPM represents a range of opposition political parties, including the main opposition United National Party (UNP), and socialist and Tamil parties, in support of political power sharing between Sinhalese and Tamil-speaking communities within a united Sri Lanka. The mob severely beat Ajith Senaviratne a journalist from the government-critical Ravaya newspaper.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnited National Party (UNP) Member of Parliament Dayasiri Jayasekara, a co-founder of the UPM who took part in the peace rally, confirmed to Pol FSN on January 10 that he had witnessed Deputy Minister Silva at the demonstration \u2018with well over 50 thugs attacking the rally participants.\u2019 Deputy Minister Silva, an outspoken nationalist, has often disrupted peace rallies during the Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa Presidencies.\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Placing a comment ambassador Blake wrote \u201cThe allegation from our police source linking the Presidential Secretariat to an order to permit the disruption of a peaceful political rally is disturbing. It is inconsistent with the government’s pro- political solution message to the international community. Many of the participants came from the “reform” wing of the opposition UNP. The mission will raise our concerns with Acting Foreign Secretary DeSilva and seek an opportunity to do the same with the Presidential Secretariat. Septel will report on the likelihood of defections from other elements of the UNP to the government in the next few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the\u00a0cable below\u00a0for further details;<\/p>\n

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000045\n\nSIPDIS\n\nSIPDIS\n\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INS\n\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 01\/10\/2016\nTAGS: PGOV<\/a> PREL<\/a> PTER<\/a> PHUM<\/a> MOPS<\/a> CE<\/a>\nSUBJECT: SRI LANKA: MINISTER'S \"THUGS\" BEAT JOURNALIST AT\nANTI-WAR PROTEST\n\nClassified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d).\n\n\u00b6<\/a>1. (C) Summary:  The BBC and several local independent news\nagencies reported that on January 9 a mob led by Sri Lanka\nFreedom Party (SLFP) Deputy Minister of Labor Mervyn Silva\nattacked participants at a peace rally in Colombo organized\nby the United People's Movement (UPM), an organization\nrepresenting a range of opposition political parties,\nincluding the main opposition United National Party (UNP),\nleftist and Tamil parties.  The mob severely beat Ajith\nSenaviratne, a journalist from the government-critical Ravaya\n(\"Rumor\") newspaper.  The rally organizers and a confidential\npolice source alleged that the order to disrupt the peace\ndemonstration came from the Presidential Secretariat.  End\nsummary.\n\nMervyn's Mob\n------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>2. (C) On January 9 a mob led by Sri Lanka Freedom Party\n(SLFP) Deputy Minister of Labor Mervyn Silva attacked\ndemonstrators at a peace rally in Colombo organized by the\nUnited People's Movement (UPM), according to credible media\nreports.  The UPM represents a range of opposition political\nparties, including the main opposition United National Party\n(UNP), and socialist and Tamil parties, in support of\npolitical power sharing between Sinhalese and Tamil-speaking\ncommunities within a united Sri Lanka.  The mob severely beat\nAjith Senaviratne a journalist from the government-critical\nRavaya (\"Rumor\") newspaper.\n\n\u00b6<\/a>3. (C) United National Party (UNP) Member of Parliament\nDayasiri Jayasekara, a co-founder of the UPM who took part in\nthe peace rally, confirmed to Pol FSN on January 10 that he\nhad witnessed Deputy Minister Silva at the demonstration\n\"with well over 50 thugs attacking the rally participants.\"\nDeputy Minister Silva, an outspoken nationalist, has often\ndisrupted peace rallies during the Chandrika Kumaratunga and\nMahinda Rajapaksa Presidencies.\n\nPolice Inactive\n---------------\n\n\u00b6<\/a>4. (C) United People's Movement (UPM) and Civil Monitoring\nCommittee (CMC) co-founder (and a Tamil Member of Parliament)\nMano Ganesan told Pol FSN that Sri Lanka Muslim Congress\nleader Rauff Hakeem and Tamil National Alliance MP Suresh\nPremachandran were preparing to address the rally when \"a mob\nof 150 persons led by Mervyn Silva arrived at the site of the\nmeeting... and smashed the flags, stage and PA system all in\nthe presence of journalists.  We had advance information that\nour rally might be threatened and requested police\nprotection, but the police arrived only after the mob had\nleft.\"  Ganesan added: \"The mob attack shows the GSL is not\nserious about power sharing or a political solution.  Mervyn\nwould not do this on his own.\"\n\n\u00b6<\/a>5. (C) A senior police officer (protect) confided to Pol FSN:\n\"police received instructions from the Presidential\nSecretariat to stop the rally and to assault participants if\n\nSIPDIS\nthey did not adhere to the police instructions to disband.\"\nThe police source added that the Presidential Secretariat\nfurther instructed the police not to arrest the group led by\nDeputy Minister Silva.  Local journalists told the BBC\nJanuary 9 that \"police did not arrive to prevent the attacks\nby about 100 thugs.\"\n\n\u00b6<\/a>6. (C) COMMENT:  The allegation from our police source\nlinking the Presidential Secretariat to an order to permit\nthe disruption of a peaceful political rally is disturbing.\nIt is inconsistant with the government's pro- political\nsolution message to the international community.  Many of the\nparticipants came from the \"reform\" wing of the opposition\nUNP.  The mission will raise our concerns with Acting Foreign\nSecretary DeSilva and seek an opportunity to do the same with\n\nSIPDIS\nthe Presidential Secretariat.  Septel will report on the\nlikelihood of defections from other elements of the UNP to\nthe government in the next few days.\nBLAKE<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,57,1,65,27],"tags":[1143,1139,1134,1656,1657,1658,1659,1298,1263],"class_list":["post-2892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-corruption","category-law-and-order","category-news","category-press-freedom","category-wikileaks","tag-authoritarianism","tag-democracy","tag-human-rights","tag-journalists-attacked","tag-mervin-silva-and-thugs","tag-nugegoda-mob-attack","tag-press-freedom-in-sri-lanka","tag-sri-lankans-in-wikileaks","tag-us-embassy-cables-on-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"\nWikiLeaks: Nugegoda mob attack was directed by Presidential Secretariat - 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\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WikiLeaks: Nugegoda mob attack was directed by Presidential Secretariat - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-21T12:31:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/mervin-with-kudu-lal-colombo-telegraph.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\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=\"5 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\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/\",\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: Nugegoda mob attack was directed by Presidential Secretariat - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/mervin-with-kudu-lal-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-21T12:31:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/de9e3c959e41894c80608bdddd0387b7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/mervin-with-kudu-lal-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/mervin-with-kudu-lal-colombo-telegraph.jpg\",\"width\":\"450\",\"height\":\"338\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: Nugegoda mob attack was directed by Presidential Secretariat\"}]},{\"@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\/de9e3c959e41894c80608bdddd0387b7\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f1e558c9e5cbf36781344637e8cd79f7a43c5eef749495c25079d8d64753ff3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f1e558c9e5cbf36781344637e8cd79f7a43c5eef749495c25079d8d64753ff3?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":"WikiLeaks: Nugegoda mob attack was directed by Presidential Secretariat - 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\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"WikiLeaks: Nugegoda mob attack was directed by Presidential Secretariat - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2011-12-21T12:31:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":450,"height":338,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/mervin-with-kudu-lal-colombo-telegraph.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Colombo Telegraph","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Colombo Telegraph","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/","name":"WikiLeaks: Nugegoda mob attack was directed by Presidential Secretariat - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/mervin-with-kudu-lal-colombo-telegraph.jpg","datePublished":"2011-12-21T12:31:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/de9e3c959e41894c80608bdddd0387b7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/mervin-with-kudu-lal-colombo-telegraph.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/mervin-with-kudu-lal-colombo-telegraph.jpg","width":"450","height":"338"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-nugegoda-mob-attack-was-directed-by-presidential-secretariat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"WikiLeaks: Nugegoda mob attack was directed by Presidential Secretariat"}]},{"@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\/de9e3c959e41894c80608bdddd0387b7","name":"Colombo Telegraph","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f1e558c9e5cbf36781344637e8cd79f7a43c5eef749495c25079d8d64753ff3?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f1e558c9e5cbf36781344637e8cd79f7a43c5eef749495c25079d8d64753ff3?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\/2011\/12\/mervin-with-kudu-lal-colombo-telegraph.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892","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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}