Wartime abductions:Govt. urged to prosecute or release Navy men 

D.K.P.

by Shamindra Ferdinando-November 8, 2017, 11:09 pm

Retired Navy Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera has urged the government to either prosecute or release SLN officers and men remanded in connection with a series of alleged war time abductions, mostly in Colombo and its suburbs.

Weerasekera emphasised that those who had served the armed forces and undertaken missions at the risk of their lives were being unfairly treated.

The naval veteran said so addressing the media at the National Library on Tuesday (Nov 7).

Among those who had been arrested was Commander R. P. S. Ranasinghe responsible for the detection of a C4 explosives-packed lorry meant for a suicide mission in Colombo in 2008, Weerasekera said.

Responding to a query, Weerasekera said that having had taken the lorry packed with 1,008 kgs of C4 explosives on the Padikku beach, Trincomalee, Ranasinghe along with a Petty Officer (name not mentioned due to security reasons) brought it to a safe place. Ranasinghe had been in remand for about nine months pending investigations into abductions carried out allegedly by the navy in 2008, whereas the LTTE cadre tasked with the suicide mission Jeevaratnam Kirubakaran was set free.

Weerasekera alleged the government was bending backwards to appease the UN by indiscriminate arrests. The former Deputy Minister said that no one would find fault with the government if proper charges were brought against those now in remand.

Weerasekera said that Commodore D.K.P. Dasanayake, who had been the senior officer in charge of Chalai-based deployment during the final phase of combined forces operations was in remand since July 2017 for allegedly overseeing two intelligence units under investigation for Colombo abductions.

Referring to a statement by Ben Emmerson, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, at the conclusion of his official visit to Colombo, in July, Weerasekera told The Island that the Britisher overstepped his authority. Queens Counsel Emmerson declared that a senior naval commander had been arrested over his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 11 persons during the closing stages of the conflict.

Weerasekera recalled the heroic role played by the navy in rescuing thousands of civilians fleeing Puthumathalan during ground operations on the Vanni east front. Those who had been deployed there arrested Sea Tiger leader Soosai’s wife and handed them over to authorities, Weerasekera said.