Saving Premanath By Aruni Mallawaarachi
Photographs by Ruwan Walpola
An unholy fate has fallen on a Sri Lankan working in Saudi Arabia found guilty of engaging in religious rituals other than Islam.
Premanath Perera (38) from Ampara, who is a father of two, was taken under custody by the Umulmahami Police for worshipping according to his own religion.
An ex-soldier retired from the army, Premanath had decided to start a small business, but it had not been successful and therefore, he had made up his mind to leave for Saudi Arabia for employment as a truck driver, for a salary of Rs 20,000.
He had only been gone for two years and 10 months, and as his visa was near expiration date, he was hoping to come back to Sri Lanka in September this year. However on that fateful day Saudi religious Police had broken into where Premanath was residing and had not only arrested him, but also taken over the Buddha’s picture he had been worshipping along with other religious material he had with him.
After being taken away, the Umulmahami Police had accused him of practicing black magic against their country. The police believing that lighting incense sticks for the Buddha was a way of practicing black magic. Even though he had confessed that he was not involved in any dark art practices and that he was only practising his religion, the police had not taken notice of what he had said.
The news of the incident was passed onto his mother and wife through a friend of Premanath’s. Even though his friend called for help there was no one around to save Premanath.
The Umulmahami Police had filed a case against him and after three court cases he had been found guilty and all his hard earned money was taken back by the Saudi Government. His wife and mother are doing their utmost to bring him back to Sri Lanka. Premanath has asked for the Ministry of Foreign Employment and Foreign Employment Bureau to be informed, but there has been no response from either.
A complaint number CN/158/1205 had been lodged at the Foreign Employment Bureau, but no action has been taken. Premanath’s wife has appealed to every governmental organization to help save her husband and that she wants is to have him back.
Ven. Wimalajothi Thera of the Bodu Bala Sena Organization had decided to give a helping hand to and had discussed the issue with the embassy of the country and with officers in Sri Lanka.
The Foreign Employment Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Employment and the Embassy together have assured Ven. Wimalajothi that they will take immediate measures to save Premanath.
http://www.ceylontoday.lk/59-9240-news-detail-saving-premanath.html
.පස්සෙ කොල්ලො එකතු වෙලා ඔය පොන්* ප*කුන්ට ගැහුවා.ඒත් ආයෙත් ඒ සෙල්ලම පටන් ගත්තා.ආයෙත් අපේ උන් ගැහුවා,ගහලා සත්තු ටික වත්තක දාගෙන එළිවෙනකල් හිටියා.
ඔවුන්ගෙ පරම්පරාවක් ආවා.අම්මා තාත්තා සිහිකරලා දීලා යැව්වේ.සමහරු වාහන දාලා දිව්වා.
එදයින් පස්සෙ නම් ගමෙන් සතෙක් ගෙනියන්නෙ නෑ,වෙනදට මහ රෑට පකීර්ලා වගේ යන එවුන් දැන් මහ රෑට ගම දිහා බලන්නෙත් නෑ.
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