COLOMBO – Within 24 hours of video footage of a Sri Lankan soldier assaulting a civilian at a petrol station emerging, the military launched an investigation into the incident and sent out a press release accusing “invisible elements” of trying to “ridicule members of the army”.
Footage of the assault at a petrol shed at Yaggahapitiya in Kurunegala, in the North Western Province, had been widely shared earlier Monday (4). JDS Lanka, the local media partner of Reporters Without Borders, identified the soldier in the video as Lt. Col. Viraj Kumarasinghe, Commanding Officer of the 1 Sri Lanka National Guard.
“The soldier who was seen kicking a civilian waiting to buy fuel at a petrol station in #Yaggahapitiya, #Kurunegala in north-western #SriLanka has been identified as Lt. Col. Viraj Kumarasinghe, Commanding Officer of the 1 Sri Lanka National Guard of @Sri_Lanka_Army. pic.twitter.com/ifsvBc4s3d” JDS tweeted.
Within hours, Army Spokesman Brigadier Nilantha Premaratne said that the military had begun an “internal investigation into the incident”.
However, later in the day, a statement from the army staunchly defended soldiers from any wrongdoing and instead lashed out at the media and civilians lining up for fuel.
It claimed that video footage had been “intentionally edited or projecting only one side or tail end of the dispute” and said “Army personnel are being humiliated or verbally abused”.
“Such attempts go quite contrary to basic media ethics, too,” the statement said, adding, “Those media clips, needless to reiterate, some of which project Army members as a ‘repressive force’ of undisciplined, impolite nature, are being produced by invisible elements in order to serve different agendas of their masters in order to ridicule members of the Army and cause animosity between civilians and Army personnel.”
It also “humbly” requested members of the public to coordinate with army personnel with “broader understanding” and “cordial nature”, as “you all have admirably done in the past, too”, noting that the army personnel have been deployed in respective areas for the safety and protection of the public.
Several incidents of Sri Lankan military brutality have been recorded in recent weeks alone, gaining traction across the South.
In the North-East, such incidents have become more routine, with the army frequently harassing and detaining Tamils. Last month, the Sri Lankan army opened fire at a petrol station in Mullaitivu, with video footage showing soldiers pelting objects at locals. It ended up blaming a “drunken mob” for the incident.
-TG/ENCL