South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR), a regional network of human rights defenders has condemned the remarks made by Justice and Buddhasasana Minister Wijeydasa Rajapakshe on human rights lawyer Lakshan Dias, in which he had called for a public apology from Dias for making ‘misleading’ comments regarding attacks on Christian places of worship.

On a talk show on Derana TV on 14 June 2017, Dias stated that since 8 January 2015 (when the current government came into power) 195 Christian religious places have been attacked. He said further the attacks were documented and publicized by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL).

At the opening ceremony of the new court complex in Maankulam, Killinochchi on 17 June 2017 Minister Wijeydasa Rajapakshe refuted the claims made by Lakshan Dias, quoting a response by Cardinal Malcom Ranjith the Archbishop of Colombo that there no attacks on Catholic places of worship.

Minister Wijeydasa Rajapakshe had further threatened to remove Lakshan Dias as a lawyer if an apology was not tendered within 24 hours.

‘In his remarks, the Minister has denied the attacks on Christian religious places based on the response received from Cardinal Malcom Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo. SAHR believes that his response conforms solely to the Catholic religious places and does not to take into account the other Christian denominations,’ the statement by SAHR said.

‘Religious extremism continues to rise in South Asia and in Sri Lanka in the past couple of months alone many minority persons, businesses and religious places of worship have been attacked. The denial of such actions and the refusal to bring perpetrators to justice indicates the government's lack of interest to address the issue or protect the freedom of religion of its citizens,’ it said.

‘SAHR reminds the government of Sri Lanka that according to international obligations, specifically as a state party to the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the government is the primary duty bearer in providing protection to all citizens without discriminating on the basis of ethnicity, caste, sexual orientation or the freedom of following any religion of their preference.’

‘Further, SAHR urges the government to immediately look into the veracity of these incidents, conduct independent investigations and provide justice for the victims. SAHR further calls upon respective authorities to immediately stop the threat and harassment of Mr. Lakshan Dias and other HRDs working with religious minority communities on this issue so that they could continue to work toward the promotion and protection of human rights in Sri Lanka.’