International Council, League for the Fifth International, 9 April 2012
Our Council has learnt with dismay and anger of the abduction of Kumar Gunarathnam and Dimuthu Attygalle, leading members of the Movement for People’s Struggle, on April 6th. Coming after the abduction of Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Murugan from the streets of Jaffna in broad daylight on December 9 and a concerted media campaign to characterise the MPS as in some way a terrorist threat to Sri Lankan society, there can be no doubt that this outrage is the work of the increasingly repressive government of Mahinda Rajapaksa.This latest demonstration of the government’s flagrant disregard of the norms of democratic society and the rights of citizens can only be understood as an attempt to intimidate the MPS immediately before the founding of its new party, the Frontline Socialist Party, on April 9th. Beyond that, it is clearly aimed at all those forces in Sri Lankan society who oppose the government’s denial of the rights of the Tamils and its pursuit of IMF-dictated economic policies at the expense of the working people of all communities.
We demand the immediate release of Kumar Gunarathnam and Dimuthu Attygalle and all others held secretly by the government, the repeal of all repressive legislation and the prosecution of all those responsible for the illegal detention and intimidation of activists and campaigners.