Minneriya National Park
Major General Mohan Ratnayake of the Sri Lankan Army was arrested on 1 July after surrendering to the Habanara Police as he allegedly assaulted a Wildlife Officer at the Minneriya National Park, after feeling "insulted" by their search requests.
The Habanara Police presented this case to the Kekirawa Magistrate court on 30 June. The court ordered the police to arrest and produce Major General Ratnayake and several other soldiers. They allegedly obstructed the duties of Wildlife Officers, made death threats and assaulted Wildlife Reserve Officer M. W. K. Wasala.
On 30 June, Magistrate Weraniyagoda questioned why the police had not already arrested the suspected soldiers and Major General Ratnayake as their vehicles had already been identified. According to News First Sri Lanka, the court also condemned the conduct of the Habarana Police for failing to even record a statement from the suspects.
After Ratnayake surrendered, accused war criminal, current Chief of Defence Staff and Army Commander Shavendra Silva appointed a Board of inquiry, headed by two Major Generals, to investigate Major General Ratnayake’s assault accusations.
In addition, a parallel Military Police investigation was launched after the alleged assault.
According to News first Lanka, the altercation took place after the Wildlife Officers flagged down two Sri Lankan Army vehicles that entered Minneriya National Park. However, the Army vehicles did not abide by the officers' orders to stop. The wildlife officers then chased after the two Army vehicles and that is when the death threats and assault took place.
In addition, the wildlife officers, as clarified by Magistrate Weraniyagoda, did have the right to search the soldiers who entered the National Park as they were conducting an investigation into a group that had illegally entered the park in an attempt to steal an elephant calf.
Regardless, after the assault, General Ratnayake filed a complaint against the Wildlife Officers for “insulting him" by subjecting him to search while he was travelling with his troops, as reported by Newswire Sri Lanka.
In June, despite ongoing criticism of their involvement in civilian affairs in the North-East, the Sri Lankan military launched several projects normalizing wider patterns of militarisation of the Tamil homeland. Troops in Kilinochchi began the construction of five houses designated for needy families under Silva’s community-oriented project initiative in an attempt to "promote reconciliation and goodwill between Security Forces and the general public."
Read more here: Continued militarisation across the North-East
In April, the navy arrested 30 Tamil fishermen off Poonakary, in northern Kilinochchi following the Fisheries Minister and accused human rights abuser Douglas Devananda, who introduced restrictions to limit fishing to only permit holders. The army has continuously posed a serious issue to the livelihood of Tamil fishermen across the North-East as checkpoints, incidents of assault and illegal fishing by Sinhala fishermen with navy assistance increases.
Read more here: Four Tamil fisherman severely beaten by Sri Lankan navy officials
