Defence Ministry decries HRW claims | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

Defence Ministry decries HRW claims

23 February, 2020

The Defence Ministry has denied accusations by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), which said that families of victims of enforced disappearance and activists supporting them are under the microscope of the Sri Lankan Security Forces and intelligence agencies.

Releasing its new report, the HRW said ‘Sri Lankan Security Forces and intelligence agencies have intensified surveillance and threats against families of victims of enforced disappearance and activists supporting them since Gotabaya Rajapaksa became the President in November 2019’.

Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne denying the allegations said that apart from operating routine security network, the Security Forces and intelligence agencies were not engaged in monitoring any specific group of people.

“They are not focusing on any of the relatives of missing persons and we have not used any of the intelligence segments of the Security Forces or the police to keep a tab on those families,” he said.

The Defence Secretary said the Security Forces and the police were kept on high alert to ensure national security but not targeting any specific group of people in Sri Lanka.

Comments