Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayaka told Parliament yesterday that a three-member committee has been appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order, as well as an internal inquiry by the Police Department, to ascertain if Police personnel on duty at a recent protest march by disabled soldiers used excessive force to disperse the crowd.
The Minister said three-member Committee headed by a DIG will also consist of an official of his Ministry as well as the Defence Ministry. The Minister was responding to a question raised in Parliament by UPFA Colombo District MP Dinesh Gunawardena on Friday (November 11) regarding the tear gas attack on a group of disabled soldiers who staged a protest march near the Presidential Secretariat on November 7.
The Police action came as the protesters attempted to enter the premises of the Presidential Secretariat in Fort.
After the investigations are completed, the Ministry will take the action against the police personnel on duty if they had breached the law, he said.
Minister Ratnayaka said that the Presidential Secretariat is situated in a High Security Zone and it needs prior permission to enter the premises.
If the President was there, he would have invited the protesters to enter into the secretariat, but on that day the President was not in the country,” he said.
A few days after the incident, President Maithripala Sirisena said that had he been in the country, he would have invited the protesters into the Secretariat and talked to them, he said.
The Minister alleged that some “outsiders” were at the protest who seem to have instigated the unrest.
What I saw on television footage, the Police had used minimum force and added that he deeply regrets the way the soldiers were harassed as a result of the unrest on that day.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardena said that necessary changes have been made to the relevant regulations to enable the disabled soldiers to get their pensions.