27-06-2014

Mr. Lalith Weratunga
Secretary to the President
President Secretariat
Colombo

Dear Sir,

The National Shoora (Consultative) Council (NSC), a grouping of several national level Muslim Organisations has issued the following statement on the move to rebuild damaged properties in the recent violence in Aluthgama:

The sudden moves to clean up and rebuild properties damaged by violence in Aluthgama, Beruwala and neighboring areas will destroy evidence that will be vital to be established for the police to complete investigations, required of them according to the Code of Criminal Procedure Act and related laws, so that perpetrators of crime do not benefit from the urgency of the authorities to rebuild the affected premises.

Representations have been made to us by persons from the area that the police have not visited the damaged houses, shops or mosques and recorded their own notes of the nature and extent of criminal offences committed in respect of persons and each of the properties. The law underscores the need to recover and record physical and forensic evidence at each crime site before they are destroyed. For instance, the Government Analyst needs to rule out that the arson committed on shops and houses were not due to electrical short circuit.

All this can be completed within one week, if a hundred police officers are deployed on the job immediately, with strict instructions to complete the legal requirements according to the time frame. This will also ensure that the international community is not given grounds to accuse the government of collaborating with criminals by clearing the debris, without completing investigations. In the circumstances, rebuilding process could be addressed upon duly concluding police investigations.

We decry attempts to portray the unprecedented attack on the Muslim community of the province as an insignificant incident or as a clash between two local groups or one initiated by the area Muslims, all of which are untrue and deeply hurting the community, as ugly as the violence. The insignificance, if at all lies in a private incident that occurred on 12^th June, between two drivers of the two communities being hijacked by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) to launch a major anti- Muslim campaign in the area on 15^th June, within three days of the original event.

While appreciating the condemnations issued across the board by all concerned groups, we condemn the move to blame violence on so called Muslim ‘extremism’, as if violence on such false reasoning is justified.

At the magisterial inquiry on Thursday, June 26, 2014, into the murder by shooting of three Muslims during the attack, it has transpired that STF personnel were present at the scene from which direction the firing occurred and that soon after the shooting the STF personnel came up and spoke to some amongst the victims. The government is duty bound to find out who were the STF personnel on duty at the scene of this crime and duly assist the inquiry in court.

Thanking you.

Yours truly,

Ismail A Azeez
General Secretary
National Shoora Council

Copies: 
Secretary, Ministry of Law and Order, Battaramulla
Secretary, Ministry of Defense & Urban Development, Colombo