| by Dharisha
Bastians
( December 19,
2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The people are well aware of who is behind
white van attacks against Government detractors, United National Party Member
of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya charged yesterday, condemning the attempted
assault on senior attorney-at-law Guneratne Wanninayake.
Wanninayake is
also the Convenor of the Free March, a constituent association in the Lawyers
Collective that is carrying out a vocal campaign to preserve judicial
independence and stands against the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani
Bandaranayake.
Attorney
Wanninayake was allegedly ambushed by a group of four armed men on his way home
on Monday (17) who threatened him and attempted an assault. The assailants
escaped in a white van, Wanninanayake claimed.
“He is a senior
lawyer who is very vocal about safeguarding the Judiciary. He was attacked in
broad daylight by assailants who escaped in a white van – how do these groups
manage to avoid the scrutiny of the security apparatus every time? How do they
operate so openly?” Jayasuriya said, addressing the media from his private
office in Kirulapone.
The senior
Opposition politician said that the incident was eerily similar to the attack
on Judicial Services Commission Secretary Manjula Tillekaratne in October. “We
condemn this brutal injustice. It is no longer a secret that this Government
seeks to perpetuate only its own viewpoint and it will use fair and foul means
to do it,” Jayasuriya charged. The UNP
lawmaker also criticised the Government’s extravagance in the face of crushing
poverty that the common people were grappling with. “Last weekend were the
night races. Thousands of people were inconvenienced, weddings in the city were
not attended, road closures caused innumerable hardships – was this worth Rs.
200 million of public money?” he said. Jayasuriya said that the Government had
displayed the same lack of responsibility when it came to spending on IIFA in
Colombo and its disastrous bid for the Commonwealth Games 1918, which cost the
state coffers millions in order to satisfy the whims of the rulers. “The Government
wants to show off before the world – they are using our money to do it,” he
said.
Tear gas, iron
poles and guns will not suppress public opinion forever, the Opposition
legislator said. “I would like to remind our current brutal rulers about that.
They are blinded by power,” he charged.
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