by Harischandra Gunaratna

The Inter University Students Federation on Wednesday accused a Minister representing the Colombo District of being responsible for the violence and terror unleashed in the Kelaniya University in the latest of a series of attacks in which two undergraduates were seriously injured.

Ravindra Mudalige, convenor of the Federation giving the student version of what had happened, told the Press: "the assailants were goons of the politician. They came in a van and knocked down one of the undergraduates and abducted another. They blindfloded him, brutally assaulted him with an iron club. His arm was fractured and required emergency surgery. He was later pushed out of the vehicle in Pethiyagoda, 2km away from the University on July 20".

The student unrest which followed these incidents resulted in the closure of the University the next day July 21.

"In an earlier incident" Mudalige said, "another undergraduate who was returning to the hostel which is outside the University premises was razor slashed by a gang who had come in a van and was later pushed out of the vehicle close to the University."

These incidents are not committed by the students but, by organised criminal gangs set on students by the Minister concerned," Mudalige stressed.

The Minister representing Colombo district has been entrusted the job of repressing the undergraduates by resorting to third degree methods" he categorically alleged.

"However it was erroneously reported in newspapers that the violence followed a clash between two student factions injuring a lecturer. But it was a clash between the students and an outside group," he said.

Mudalige blamed the Vice Chancellor of the Kelaniya university for shirking his responsibility by simply dismissing these incidents on the grounds that they took place outside the university premises".

"The students hostel is located outside the University campus. Students have to use the main road to get to the hostel," Mudalige said. How can the VC claim this to be an incident that took place outside the premises and avoid his responsibility? It’s his duty to see to the security of the University hostellers," he said.

"Some undergraduates are given police escort inside the University. They are the people who are involved in these incidents. What is the logic behind providing them with security" he asked. "In that case all students should be provided with security", he said.

Former students and outsiders have free access to the University library and this permits the trouble makers to plan and engage in their unlawfull activities without any hindrance", he claimed.

Mudalige said an environment conducive to study should be created in the Universities for undergrads to pursue their studies in peace. "We demand that the University be reopened forthwith. The university authorities have not punished the students who were responsible for unrest in the past although an inquiry has been held and the report has been handed over, the University administration is silent on this.

Mudalige made these points in the course of a press briefing the Federation called at the social and Ecumenical Centre, in Maradana on Wednesday.