S’GAMUWA STUDENT ACTIVISTS RECEIVE DEATH THREATS
Following the tense situation that prevailed within the Sabaragamuwa University premises last Friday due to the suspension of student unions and five student activists, the Sabaragamuwa undergraduates now claim they were receiving death threats and are gravely concerned about their safety.
Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF) Convener Sanjeewa Bandara speaking to the Daily Mirror yesterday said the undergraduates were no longer feeling safe even in their homes as death threats have been made to them as well as to their parents, demanding them to stop engaging themselves in student activist groups.
"The suspension of the five undergraduates' studentships and the student unions are based on arbitrarily formulated regulations. A week ago, there was no regulation that did not
The undergraduates were no longer feeling safe even in their homes as death threats have been made to them as well as to their parents, demanding them to stop engaging themselves in student activist groups
permit undergraduates from convening after 10 pm. These rules that have been imposed are a grave blow against university autocracy. It is now evident that the administration is acting on the whims and fancies of the government in their quest to suppress the student movement," Bandara said. However, the Sabaragamuwa University Senior Student Counsellor, Professor C. Udawatte responding to the allegations of students said, "The suspension issued on the five students is only temporary. Disciplinary inquiries against the five students in question are scheduled to commence this week.
These moves are not taken with the intention of harassing these students, but to ensure they do not fall prey to various external interventions and disrupt their academic careers."
A tense situation arose within the Sabaragamuwa University last Friday when the university administration took steps to suspend all operations of the student union and five faculty unions. The administration claimed the suspension was issued due to the student union representatives' engagement in illegal activities. However, student union representatives who dismissed the allegations claimed it was a result of the repetitive complaints made to the administration against the hardships faced by the undergraduates.