Whither the UNP regarding SF?
March 20, 2010 11:18 pm
United National Party (UNP)
He has also said that a sympathy vote for Fonseka does not arise during the general elections as a result. This is apparently is to thwart moves by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), contesting this time round under the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) with the trophy as its symbol, to garner sympathy votes by canvassing on behalf of Sarath Fonseka depicting him as a hero illegally detained behind bars by the government.
It is no secret that the JVP attempted to strike up a broad alliance of opposition parties similar to that for the January 26 Presidential poll, which the opposition including the JVP, UNP and Mangala Samaraweera’s Ape Jathika Peramuna (AJP) among others, contested backing Fonseka as their common candidate under the New Democratic Front (NDF) with the swan as its symbol.
Having failed to retain the DNF alliance for the parliamentary polls on April 8, the JVP discarded the NDF and its swan and instead has come up with the DNA along with a few other parties. The UNP had rejected the offer to align with the JVP.
The bulk of the votes that Sarath Fonseka received as Presidential candidate were from the UNP. However, at the April general elections, since the UNP is contesting separately as the UNF in alliance with AJP, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the rest including Mano Ganeshan’s Democratic People’s Front which staunchly backed Fonseka. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which supported Fonseka’s Presidential candidature is also going it alone this time.
Meanwhile, latest reports appearing from the Grand Old Party seems to suggest that the party leadership is not in favour of those who supported General Fonseka at the Presidential poll and now with the UNF at the General Elections.
This has been apparent in the case of a UNP trade unionist and a Presidential candidate from Mangala Samaraweera’s AJP at the January 26 poll being sidelined at the upcoming polls. This candidate vehemently supported Sarath Fonseka on the polls platforms and was very critical of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Requests had gone out to the UNP leadership to appoint this trade unionist under the UNF’s National List to Parliament, but the requests had not been honoured. Party seniors had reportedly stated that since he was a close aide of the retired General he should not be given a place. And the cold war is apparently dragging on.
Meanwhile, the media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) has come out strongly against the detention of another close Sarath Fonseka aide, this time a journalist, by the Terrorist Investigations Department of the Police.
“We are outraged by Ruwan Weerakoon’s arrest,” Reporters Without Borders said in a media release. “What we feared has come about. The decision to prosecute him is part of a witch-hunt against the relatives and supporters of Gen. Fonseka, who is himself under arrest. The police and judicial authorities have again abused their powers in order to silence an opposition journalist,” RSF went on to state while calling on the authorities for his release.
The RSF added, “Just a month ago, President Rajapaksa ordered the police to personally inform him before any arrest of media personnel. We would like to know if Presidential consent was obtained before this journalist’s arrest.”
Weerakoon, who was arrested earlier this week, writes regularly on defence issues for two newspapers, the Nation and Bottom Line and the Asia Tribune website. It was as a defence correspondent that he became close to Gen. Fonseka when he was Army Commander during the final stage of Eelam War IV, which ended with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May last year.
