The Asian Human Rights Commission is forwarding this open letter by C. Dissanayake, of Mt. Lavinia, near Colombo, Sri Lanka which appeared in the Opinions page of the Island Newspaper on August 3, 2006. The letter mentions the case of the deceased Inspector of Police, Douglas Nimal which was covered by the AHRC in the following statement and urgent appeal (AS-084-2006, UA-168-2006).
Open letter to the IGP
This is an open letter to the IGP of the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka, which I hope to address through Your esteemed journal, The Island.
Dear Mr. Inspector General of Police, somewhere within our neighbourhood, yours and mine, there are three school- going children, who return home after school, five days a week, to an empty home; when I say empty I mean empty of one’s parents, the mother and the father. These three school-going children lost their parents in one tragic incident in the latter part of April this year. The father’s name in this case was Douglas Nimal. Does the name ring a bell?
Let me refresh your memory, the late Mr. Douglas Nimal, who was an Inspector in the Police Force you happen to be the head, was travelling in a van with his wife by his side when their lives were cut off so suddenly by a hail of bullets, in broad daylight. He was, at the time of his sudden death, under suspension from duty for allegedly being in truck with drug dealers he was supposed to be hunting down. There were also speculations that the late Inspector was framed and the interdiction was engineered by another set of higher police officers to get him off their backs. It was also reported that the late Inspector Douglas Nimal on that fateful day was heading for the HRC to make some revelations about the goings-on of some corrupt police officials and how he came to be under suspension as a result.
I don’t know how many children you have or how old they are now; but surely they would have been, at some point of time, of the same age as these three children I am talking about. Dear Mr. Inspector General of Police, what would have been the position if your children at that age had been deprived them of their mother and father in one instant?
Over three months have gone by since the unfortunate incident and what have the Police done; are you monitoring the progress of the investigations that are being carried out, if there are any being carried out; or is It going to be another case unsolved and shelved?
Don’t you think You have a duty by these three children to delve into this extraordinary case on priority basis? The last hectic efforts of this unfortunate man were to clear his good name. If he was innocent of the charges against him would it not be correct to exonerate him, even posthumously. This will be a great relief to the three children who could then talk proudly of their father. This is the least we can do!
Then what about the real perpetrators of this crime; the ones who pulled the trigger and the ones who orchestrated the sordid ordeal from behind the scene? You are duty bound to bring them to book irrespective of their colour, class or creed. We are waiting to see how genuine a man you are in executing your duties!
C. Dissanayake,
Mt. Lavinia.
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About AHRC The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984
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