The U.S. Embassy in Colombo today expressed ‘concern’ regarding the attack on the residence of TNA Provincial Council candidate Anandi Sridharan by a mob, which injured at least 8 individuals including election monitors.
The attack was allegedly carried out by several armed men at around midnight yesterday (19) while a group of election observers, representatives of the CaFFE and PAFFREL organizations, were among the injured persons.
Sridharan, who is the wife of the former LTTE Political Wing Leader in Trincomalee, Elilan, was however not present during the attack as she had been taken to safety by her supporters.
Expressing concern regarding the attack, especially in the lead-up to the Provincial Council elections that will take place in Sri Lanka on September 21, the Embassy called for a transparent probe.
“The attack should be transparently and independently investigated, and the perpetrators involved should be brought to justice swiftly,” it said in a release.
The US Embassy also called on all parties to refrain from violence and observe a peaceful, open and transparent electoral process – “one that is free, fair and credible and allows for the full expression of the voters to select democratically the representatives of their choice.”
The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) has also condemns the attack on TNA candidate Ananthi Sasistharan’s house and the “brutal, barbaric attack” on the independent election monitors in Jaffna.
A group of ‘unidentified people’ attacked the house of Ms. Ananthi, the only female candidate of TNA, at Araali in Jaffna while election observers were attacked by the assailants when they rushed to the location, CaFFE said.
The domestic elections monitoring group stated that even the tyres of the election observer’s vehicle were punctured and that it had taken considerable time even to provide first aid to the assaulted monitor.
CaFFE says that even before its observers had reached the site of the incident, the military presence in uniforms was highly visible throughout the area. ”The military has deployed in numbers just as the incident took place in uniforms”, CaFFE National Coordinator who was in Jaffna at the time of the attack said.
The attackers have taken away the cell phones and SIM cards of the wounded, CaFFE said, expressing concern over the last minute military deployment in Jaffna.
Ananthi Sasistharan claims that the attackers were led by ruling party men and backed by security forces.
However, the military denied the allegation and said they wanted police to investigate.
“This is a baseless allegation,” military spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya said. “The security forces have no involvement in this election-related violent act.”
TNA Chief Ministerial candidate for the North C.V. Vigneswaran said a large army presence was causing unease among the local population which he says lives under constant surveillance.
“This is an occupation army. They are here for a political purpose and not for security reasons,” Vigneswaran had said, speaking to AFP following the attack.
