Mr. W. Dayaratne,
President, Bar Association of Sri Lanka
Hulftsdorp
Colombo 12
Sri Lanka
Facsimile: 94 11 2448090
Email: wdaya@slt.lk
Dear Mr. Dayaratne,
By now the Bar Association must be aware of the letter issued by a group calling itself Mahason Balakaya to the registrars of courts and human rights lawyers making death threats to anyone who appears in cases of alleged terrorist acts. The Bar Association is now called upon to defend the entire profession. Failure to take decisive action may result in loss of life as has happened several times before, particularly during the period of terror in the late 80s.
On the 11th October the Bar Association met and passed a resolution to defend the rights of one lawyer, J.C. Weliamuna and also demanded action by the Inspector General of Police to investigate the matter of the grenade attack and to report to the Bar Association. To our knowledge no successful investigation has been conducted into the matter. Now the Bar Association is called upon for a much more serious task of defending the profession as a whole.
When and where the first strike against one of the members of the profession will happen is hard to predict. The Asian Human Rights Commission has been informed that even today one of the lawyers was pursued by two persons and the lawyer concerned has made a complaint to the police about the incident.
There is without doubt a serious attempt to teach the Sri Lankan lawyers a chilling lesson as it was done on earlier occasions. The warning of the execution of this threat lies entirely on the leadership of the Bar Association and what it will now do.
We urge the Bar Association to take immediate steps to bring the matter by way of legal action before the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka asking the Supreme Court to intervene on the protection of the profession as a whole. The lawyers are officers of the court and therefore the threat now it to the independent functioning of the judiciary assisted by an independent Bar. Therefore a collective action by the profession by way of a fundamental rights application for the defense of the entire profession is well within the rights of the Bar Association.
In the earlier instance of the attack on J.C. Weliamuna the Bar Association delegation was reported to have met the Hon Chief Justice and he had advice on this matter of protection of lawyers. On this occasion it is appropriate to go before the Supreme Court by way of direct legal action so that the Supreme Court can exercise its power to ensure inquiries into the matter and to hold the government accountable about the protection of the lawyers.
On the resolution relating to Mr. Weliamunas issue, among the things that the Bar Association resolved was to appointed a group of senior lawyers to go into the issue of the protection of the lawyers. This has not been done yet and this is an appropriate time to install this committee of lawyers immediately.
It would be natural if the lawyers and the public would blame the Bar Association if anyone of its members was to fall victim to the designs of attacks on lawyers. Thus, delays or negligence to act on the part of the Bar Association may have serious consequences for its members as well as on itself. For your ease of reference we attach the translation of the relevant notice of death threats issued by this group that hides their real identity under the title of Mahason Balakaya.
Thank you
Yours sincerely,
MOON Jeong Ho
Programme Officer
Asian Human Rights Commission
cc: Mr. Udaya Rohan De Silva, Secretary of the Bar Association
basl.lawnet@stmail.lk
To those who represent the terrorists today
The innocent people of our motherland have been subject to the killing sprees of terrorists for over three decades. Expectant mothers and farmers have been among those killed – chopped to pieces by the terrorists. These terrorists now engage in bombings intended to kill innocent civilians in various parts of the country, in a bid to escape defeat at the hands of the valiant forces.
To date, the number of innocent that have fallen victim to these terrorist bombings extend into their thousands. Thousands more have been maimed. But there is no one today to speak for the human rights of these innocent people.
However, we know that there are many traitors who voice their concerns for the human rights of the evil terrorists and those who assist them in carrying out these indiscriminate killings.
Can such people who strive to free these terrorists when theyre captured and imprisoned for their crimes against the innocent be considered anything but traitors? We have the names and addresses of these traitors who take home salaries numbering into hundreds of thousands and even accept bribes in exchange for acting as enemies of our beloved motherland and its innocent people.
We have decided that all those who try to split our motherland in two and all those who represent the interests of and speak on behalf of the terrorists who kill our innocent civilians will be meted out the punishments that they deserve. There is still room for those who sell out on the cause of the nation, of the motherland, for financial gain, to cease such treacherous acts. In the future, all those who represent the interests of the terrorists will be subject to the same fate that these terrorists mete out to our innocent people.
Traitors to the nation, mouthpieces of the terrorists,
Remember the faces and bodies of those innocents who have been killed and maimed by the terrorists. Be warned that meting out the same fate to you in the name of our motherland would be a favour that we would render to the entire nation.
The Mahason Force that represents the interests of those who have lost their lives and those who have been maimed at the hands of terror.
