French citizen of Lankan descent decries attack on her Piliyandala home

“Will explore all avenues in SL for redress or go to HRC in Geneva”

Sri Lanka born French citizen Lalani Ruberoe said that she would fight to get justice done against all those responsible by either commission or omission of their duties for destroying her house and property during the riots took place after SLPP goons attacked protesters at the Galle Face Gotagogama on May 09.

Mobs had set a house belonging to Chairman of the Kesbewa Urban Council Lakshman Perera on fire on May 09 together with the neighbouring house belonging to Lalani at Madapatha in Piliyandala. Lakshman Perera is brother-in-law of Lalani.

“Within minutes our lifetime efforts of hard work and savings to build that home were gone in flames. It took 15 years for me and my husband Indunil Illeperuma and our son to build that house. I will seek justice for my case. We were living away from Sri Lanka without having any involvement in local politics. I haven’t voted in Sri Lanka for 35 years,” she said.

Lalani and her husband are dual citizens living in Paris. “We have a construction firm and a hardware shop in Piliyandala. We started those businesses providing jobs to around 15 Lankans because we believe in helping this country.

“We were attending to our normal work in Paris when one of our local employees (in SL) broke the bad news that my home had been set on fire. I simply cannot understand the reason for setting our house on fire. The house had been set on fire on May 09. The police had not come there till May 13. The drug addicts in the area had ransacked the house for the remaining furniture. This has gone on for for three days. I do not see anything right in setting the houses of politicians on fire. It is said that those incidents of arson were reprisal attacks. None can explain why our home had been destroyed because we hardly have any say in Lankan politics.”

Lalani who is a dual citizen of France and Sri Lanka has been living with her spouse and their only son in France since 1987.

She said that her elderly mother and a domestic aide were living in their Madapatha house and moments before the incident had been alerted by the Piliyandala Police to remove all disabled and invalid persons from the house. The police had informed them that there could be a possible attack on the house as the mobs were roaming to avenge attacks by SLPP goons on Galle Face protesters.

“My mother had been taken away by the servant with the help of our relations. The neighbours have captured in their mobile phones visuals of mobs destroying our house. I made a number of telephone calls from Paris and pleaded with neighbours, relatives, friends, the police, and the fire brigade desperately, but none could save our house,” she said.

Lalani said that she and her husband still approved of the people’s protest in Galle Face because that struggle was for higher goals. “The violence that took place after the attack on Galle Face was something else. There were shortages of fuel, gas and milk-powder. Now these mobs set our property on fire, but have they been able to get those shortages corrected?

“You still see the queues.   We are not happy about the investigation process. We cannot understand how the suspects were given bail. We will try all all the legal routes in the country to find justice. If not we will go before the Geneva Human Rights Council,” she said.