Sri Lanka rejects accusations of kidnapping Australian dissident activist

The Sri Lankan government today rejected the accusation that a government hand was involved in the alleged kidnapping of an Australian citizen and a dissident member of Sri Lanka Marxist party and a female dissident activist. In a statement Sri Lanka's External Affairs Ministry today (10) questioned the credibility of the claims made by the proclaimed leader of the breakaway Marxist party Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) Premakumar Gunaratnam alias Noel Mudalige and women's leader of FSP Dimuthu Attygalle that they have been kidnapped by the government security forces or groups working with the government, especially the Defense Secretary.
The Ministry noted that Gunaratna has entered the country 4th September 2011 using an Australian passport with the name Noel Mudalige and has changed his name three times. He has used the name Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Daskon in his marriage certificate and name Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Dayalal in the Sri Lankan passport. Gunaratnam was deported this morning to Australia soon after he identified himself to the police claiming that his abductors had dropped him off in Dematagoda in Colombo. The female activist meanwhile has returned to the party office and addressed a press conference saying that the abductors had dropped her off near the party office and gave her money for a three wheeler to go home. The Ministry noted that there are many features relating to the alleged abduction which throw considerable doubt on the reliability and trustworthiness of the version of the events which have been released to the media. For example, the Ministry questioned the time elapsed between the kidnapping and the reporting to the authorities. Despite the stir allegedly caused during the abduction of Gunaratnam and heard by the neighbors the kidnapping has not been reported to the Police for 12 hours. Similarly, the disappearance of Ms. Attygalle has not been reported to the police for over 19 hours until the next day. The Ministry said other circumstances relating to Gunaratnam's previous history, which are clearly relevant in assessing the credibility of his statements, will be communicated to the Australian High Commission in Colombo. These are circumstances which have come to light in the course of detailed interrogation by the Police, who have questioned Mr. Gunaratnam and members of his family, the Ministry said. The Ministry of External Affairs said it is unfair to accuse the government of abduction every time a person decides to disappear from the public for whatever personal reason. "The objective of this is clearly to target Sri Lanka in international fora on the flimsiest of evidence. What is lacking by way of evidence seems to be amply compensated by emotion, surmise and invective," the Ministry said. "The Government asks nothing more than that objectivity and basic fairness should be the criteria governing reaction to these irresponsible and malicious campaigns," the Ministry said in its statement.