Rajiva Wijesinha

“ Those were days in which there was a tame Supreme Court, the judges of which were mobbed when a few of them found against the government on a Fundamental Rights case. That was seen as unusual, and the government promptly promoted the police officer against whom the verdict had been given. The situation is very different now. The Supreme Court has found against the government frequently in recent Fundamental Rights cases, and its orders are promptly followed. ”

“ In all these efforts the government welcomes the assistance of all democratic pluralist forces, and hopes that at least some members of the TIC will abandon their reliance on terrorism to improve the situation and work politically to achieve political ends. ”

“ TIC knows well that there are hundreds of thousands of Tamils resident in Colombo, none of whom were questioned. It knows that over 10,000 Tamils temporarily in Colombo were not sent out. Only 376 were sent away, which should not have happened, which is why the Supreme Court promptly reversed the decision. Again, of the 2.250 Tamils questioned in December, most were released on the same day, only a few hundred were detained overnight, and most of these were released as soon as they were able to establish the reasons for their presence in Colombo. ”

“ TIC goes on about this supposed lack of independence, even claiming that the Supreme Court appears to be acting ‘to promote a programme of the Executive aimed at denying the fundamental rights and aspirations of the people of Sri Lanka’, a ridiculous claim when the Supreme Court ruled that checkpoints should be removed, that searches should not be conducted at night, that the 376 Tamils removed from Colombo should be promptly brought back. ”

“ Even with regard to aerial bombing there have been very few incidents of civilian casualties, and the Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front, in condemning one of these actions, notes that the LTTE is known to use human shields. ”

“ There is much more that one could contest. But to avoid tedium, this correction of the record will only deal with one more outrageous claim, that the airforce killed ’61 children attending a training course’. ”