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| Govt. focused on violence in pursuit of winning this election -CaFFE |
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(Lanka-e-News, Aug 14, 2008, 11.20 PM) For the second week running the Campaign for Free and Fare Elections (CaFFE) has witnessed an increase in election related violence in Anuradhapura and this has taken on a retaliatory nature said the CaFFE media sporksman Keerthi Tennakoon.
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Addressing a press conferance held yesterday in Colombo he further said, the provincial councils were created on the basis of devolving power to the common people. But the government has stopped focusing on common people. Instead, they have focused on violence in pursuit of winning this election and they have undermined law and order to do so. By doing this, they have harmed the basic principles of power devolution. This same trend continues in Rathnapura, in which the Nivithigala Fiasco was a disturbing example of this situation. It was also a good example of in-action by law enforcement officers. Due to the violence that was being committed against the JVP, it decided to organize a protest against election violence in Nivithigala. During this protest they were again attacked and they defended themselves against this attack. When the perpetrators of this incident were supposed to be brought to justice, it was only the JVP supporters including two female supporters that were taken into custody by the police. This clearly shows the political bias of law enforcement officers. However, the judicial courts interfered in this case in an exemplary manner. CaFFE welcomes the actions taken by the court and sees this to be a commendable decision. The judiciary must play its role to curb and ultimately stop election related violence. During the Eastern provincial elections CaFFE went to the courts against law and order agencies who failed in their duties to protect law and order. The Supreme Court has now fixed a date for this hearing. This shows that the judiciary is keen to defend Democracy and because of their leading example it is also good to see that political parties are turning to the legal process to see that justice is done in relation to their Democratic rights. CaFFE would like to state that if we find evidence, we will definitely go the courts against officers who failed in their duty to protect Democracy, law and order.
Incidents - Pre-election Period
From July 1 to Aug 14, 2008
Election related violence incidents 105
Misuse of state property 37
Other 9
Total of Complains 151
Polonnaruwa 17
Rathnapura 20
Kegalle 17
Anuradhapura 51
Total 105 |
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