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Chilaw
sees rise in post-polls violence While statistics have proved that this election has been the most peaceful one with a comparatively low record of post election violence, in the Chilaw area, specifically at Bangadeniya and Kottapitiya terror reigns. Here it was not the number of incidents but the gravity of the violence, with three major incidents being reported involving an Alliance supporter and his stooges. The are alleged to have demanded vast amounts of money, burnt houses of opponents, involved in looting, abusing and assaulting women. Five suspects along with a shotgun have been arrested from the Arachchikattuwa house of former Arachchikattuwa Pradeshiya Sabha member Sanath Nishantha, an UPFA supporter according to Chilaw Police HQI Sarath Kumara Joseph. He said so far forty suspects, including supporters of both the UNF and the UPFA have been taken into custody by the Chilaw Police. Vinodini, the young wife of an UNF supporter in Kottapitiya, Bangadeniya, 4 kilometres from Arachikatuwa said, "We sleep in the jungle. All our furniture is hidden in the thickets." She pointed at a fridge and some furniture hidden by the undergrowth in the 18 acre coconut estate they reside in. Vinodini’s mother-in-law was allegedly assaulted by fifteen thugs two days after the election. The same night they had allegedly set fire to the plank house where Vinodini and her husband had lived with their two infant children. The Sunday Times saw the ashes of what was earlier their abode. When we visited her husband’s parents in their adjoining house which the men had allegedly threatened to destroy as well, we saw the family retrieving their television hidden under the thorny bushes to watch the Good Friday service on TV. They said they were too scared to go to the church. "My husband cannot come back here for fear of being killed. Soon after the election results pointed to an Alliance victory these men began to intimidate us saying that nothing cold stop them ‘now that they have won’. His two brothers too have fled", Vinodhini says, pointing out that their family were not strong UNF supporters. But her father-in-law, Cyril Fernando who has already sought legal assistance in case the situation worsens, said he has always supported the UNF and that he would continue to do so. "This is a group of thugs. Around 15 to 20 of them deal in illicit liquor and make their money during election time by demanding lakhs of rupees from the people in the area whom they know are supporters of the UNF. People here had to close down their prawn farms because of these men", he says adding that in 1995 he had lost his entire prawn farm after giving in to their demand of Rs. 5 lakhs. "We are not the only ones. The entire region is terrorized. They have developed this culture where people have to give them money when they demand. They have instilled fear in them", he says alleging that only one UPFA supporter, Sanath Nishantha and his supporters were responsible. The Chilaw Police whom we contacted however said although they knew that the men were close supporters of this member, no complaints had been made linking his name to the perpetrators of these violence and said they were carrying out investigations as five of the suspects were arrested from the particular member's house along with ammunition. "He should take action against these incidents. It is his power that these thugs wield. They use his power and destroy our houses if we do not give them money", said Cyril Fernando. "We have no problem with the other Alliance leaders. We have faith in them representing this area. They are decent", he said with emphasis on some of the SLFP and JVP members. He accepted that the Police did their duty during this elections in contrast to 2001, when the Police had turned a deaf ear to complaints made, refusing even to take down the entries. Meanwhile, in the same region The Sunday Times visited the house of S. Maharaj who was shot at along with his two sisters by the same terror gang. He is, according to his family, in a serious condition after he and his two sisters had been shot at on April 4. They had been admitted to the Ragama hospital. "Although there is no political base to their harassment it is this group of 15 to 20 who indulge in illegal liquor business. They are always drunk. They are so powerful that they sit at home and extort money from those who have prawn farms. They demand not thousands but lakhs of rupees", said M. Ganeshan, brother-in-law of the victim who is a labourer. He said his wife was assaulted on the streets just before the elections in 2001. "At that time we made about 16 complaints to the Police. No action was taken. No interest was shown", said Ganeshan who works as a labourer adding that this time the Police had been prompt in having arrested two of the suspects. "This time, weeks before the elections they began demanding money and on April 4 their gang challenged us to come out and ‘face them’. My brother-in-law went out saying that he could pacify them if he gave them some money, although we did not have any money at that time. But when he walked up our lane he was shot several times. His sisters too were shot at", he says narrating the incident. The family which lives in two small wooden shacks consists of the victims' aged mother, brother and sisters-in-law and their two children. Before arriving at their residence we visited their earlier home, another wooden shack located on the main road which they had left because the harassment was too much to bear. Meanwhile a grocery shop in the same vicinity had allegedly been destroyed by the same thugs. According to Chilaw Police 15 UNF supporters who had been intimidating Alliance supporters have also been arrested along with a shotgun at the Arachchikattuwa Pradeshiya Sabha chairman S.M. Dharmasena's house. Isolated incidents of vandalism were witnessed by the Sunday Times in the Wennappuwa AG's division in a colony called Galawatte, where the house of a UNF supporter had been completely destroyed and goods allegedly looted. Two more houses in the same area were damaged. In the Nattandiya region P.N. Gunawardena a candidate at the last general elections says he was assaulted by around 15 drunk UPFA supporters in the Marawila area. Meanwhile in Wijekatupotha in the Arachchikattuwa Pradeshiya Sabha division a UNF supporter's house had allegedly been looted and destroyed. According to him around 20 workers of the bus depots in the area were being allegedly prevented from reporting to work. According to reports the vehicle of the UNF chief organiser of the area had also been destroyed. |
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