• Claims not all commissioners knew of decision
• Have powers to summon anyone, says HRCSL

Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles will not appear before the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to answer a summons issued to him measures taken by the Police to control two protests organised by the Inter-University Students' Federation (IUSF) last week, The Daily Morning learned.

According to Minister Alles, he will not make an appearance as four out of five Commission members have reportedly said that they had not made a decision to summon him.

When contacted by The Daily Morning yesterday (12), and queried as to whether he would appear before the HRCSL today, Alles said: “No, I do not have to. Four out of five of its members say that they have not met, and nor have they taken any decision to summon me. I will reply to the letter that they have sent me accordingly.”

HRCSL members, Dr. Vijitha Nanayakkara, Dr. Nimal Karunasiri, Ven. Kalupahane Piyananda Thera, and Anusuya Shanmuganathan had told the media that they had not made a decision to summon Alles. Noting that the Commission had not met after 28 February, Dr. Nanayakkara had said that they had got to know about the decision to summon the Minister only through media reports.

Meanwhile, HRCSL Chairperson, retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Rohini Marasinghe had issued a statement on the matter yesterday (12).

The statement read: “While the HRCSL possesses full power and authority to summon any person residing in Sri Lanka to give evidence and produce documents, at this stage, the HRCSL, through its Secretary, merely requested the Minister under whose purview the Police fall, to attend the HRCSL to provide certain clarifications. The HRCSL is optimistic that the discussion with the Minister would help to adopt a mechanism to prevent the violations of fundamental rights in the future and recommend human rights-compliant guidelines for the crowd control during the protests.”

In a statement issued by HRCSL Media Spokesman on 9 March, it was stated that Alles had been summoned before the HRCSL at 10 a.m. today, to make an explanation regarding the measures taken by the Police to control the protests which were held near the Colombo and Kelaniya university premises on 7 and 8 March. It added that the HRCSL had decided to conduct an investigation regarding the way in which the Police acted to control the said two protests on 7 and 8 March.