3 February 2024 08:12 am
The collective said it would have been best if the campaign had been commenced when the Minister took office rather than in the election year of 2024. The letter is as follows; We are writing this letter to you as members of the Lawyers Collective. we will send copies to the President and Prime Minister and will place the letter in the public domain. we are doing so because we consider the manner in which you are exercising your powers in the “Yukthiya” anti-Drug Campaign, a matter of grave public concern.
Citizens of the country will endorse your decision to conduct a campaign to address the drug problem and try to eliminate its adverse impact on their lives.the manner in which you are conducting this campaign and making public statements on the media indicates the following:
1) that you will consider any laws that you think restrict your authority as “obstacles” that you have every right to disregard.
2) that you consider all who comment or criticize the manner in which the campaign is conducted to be drug dealers and drug addicts.
You have chosen to target in particular, lawyers who do so. You have repeatedly referred to them in this manner, despite a statement from the Bar Association of Sri Lanka objecting to this vicious attack on the legal profession.
3) You have also repeatedly stated on national TV networks that you will disregard any cautions on adhering to norms and standards of international law that apply to the State of Sri Lanka.
You have stated that you will disregard them as “foreign and outside influences,” and that you are not bound to conduct the campaign with respect for international law and the views of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
4) You have also publicly stated repeatedly that you appointed Deshabandu Tennekoon as the Acting IGP because he was the best police officer to effectively conduct this Yukthiya Campaign.
We wish to point out that each of these statements indicates that you have no regard for the office of a Minister with a sense of responsibility, and as a public trust, according to the laws and Constitution of our country.
Your statements which amount to a rejection of international law show a surprising ignorance of the obligations of the State of Sri Lanka and its Government under ratified international human rights treaties.
Also, you personally cannot have any role in the appointment of an IGP. This is a matter for the President and the Constitutional Council. Besides, the Supreme Court has found Deshabandu Tennekoon personally responsible for acts of torture.
On behalf of the Lawyers’ Collective, President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsecularatne undersigned to the letter with Professor Savitri Goonesekere, Attorney-at-law and former Vice Chancellor of University of Colombo, Upul Jayasuriya, President’s Counsel and former President – BASL, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, President’s Counsel, Geoffrey Alagaratnam, President’s Counsel and former President – BASL, Dinal Phillips, President’s Counsel, Saliya Pieris, President’s Counsel, Former President – BASL, S. T. Jayanaga, President’s Counsel, Upul Kumarapperuma, President’s Counsel, Professor Deepika Udagama, former Chairperson – HRCSL, Professor Camena Gunaratne, Harshana Nanayakkara, attorney at-law, Srinath Perera,attorney-at-law, Ermiza Tegal,attorney-at-law and Manoj Nanayakkara, attorney at-law.