Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has accused the government of a coordinated effort to suppress democracy, the opposition and independent trade unions, in remarks marking the United National Party’s 80th anniversary at Sirikotha on Sunday.
“Everything being done today is aimed at destroying the country’s democratic system and the Opposition. There is also an attempt to eliminate independent trade unions,” Wickremesinghe said, according to Ada Derana.
Who he says is being targeted
Wickremesinghe named three groups he said the government had begun acting against: the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, doctors, and Buddhist monks. He said political parties faced restrictions and harassment, and that politicians were being arrested without sufficient grounds.
He raised an incident involving Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and BASL President Rajeev Amarasuriya, alleging that Amarasuriya had been refused entry to Parliament after the Opposition Leader invited him.
“Considering these developments, we must ask where this country is being governed from — Parliament or Pelawatte?” he said. Pelawatte is the location of the National People’s Power headquarters.
The 22nd Amendment
Wickremesinghe said the UNP opposed the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution because the government had not included a provision requiring a referendum, and that the party had gone to court to establish whether one is legally required.
In a written statement issued for the anniversary, reported by the Daily Mirror, he traced the party’s constitutional record from independence in 1948 through the 1972 Republican Constitution — whose drafting, he said, excluded UNP amendments — to the 1978 Constitution introduced under UNP government. “Today, this system is under threat,” he said.
Context
The remarks land during a week of arrests and court orders involving figures from the former SLPP government, including the remanding of MP Namal Rajapaksa, and on the day the NPP began an islandwide rally series marking two years in office. The government has not responded to Wickremesinghe’s allegations.
