Stop playing double games, UNP tells MR

• UNP lashes out against President’s remarks at independence ceremony that Opposition has responsibility to protect freedom
• Joint Opposition to unveil manifesto and build framework for cooperation on 11 Feb.

By Dharisha Bastians

The main Opposition United National Party reacted angrily to remarks made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday, saying safeguarding independence and the people’s freedom was first and foremost the duty of the Government.

“Today, who is stealing the people’s freedom every day? Who is eroding the people’s economic freedoms? Who stole the independence of the Judiciary? Who robbed Parliament’s freedoms by buying over MPs for money to create an artificial two-thirds majority?” UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake charged at a media briefing yesterday.

In his address to the nation to mark Sri Lanka’s 65th anniversary of independence in Trincomalee on Monday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa noted that it was also the duty of an Opposition to safeguard and uphold freedom in the country.

Attanayake said it was the Government that had a responsibility to lead by example to safeguard independence and the people’s freedoms.

“This Government eroded the people’s freedoms in an unprecedented way when they enacted the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. If the President truly cares about the people’s freedom, instead of making grand speeches, he should repeal the 18th Amendment and bring back the 17th Amendment, which will instil public trust and bring back some semblance of political and media freedom and create independent State institutions in this country,” Attanayake said.

According to the UNP, the President was trying to shift focus from his Government on to the Opposition in order to conceal the way the stakeholders in his Government are creating religious tension and disharmony between the communities, which is affecting the fundamental freedoms of the people.

“Stop playing double games – stop saying one thing and doing the opposite,” Attanayake charged.

Attanayake added that the Joint Opposition – the Vipakshaye Virodhaya which includes the UNP and several other political parties – would be launching their policy statement and presenting their framework for cooperation on 11 February. He said the UNP’s goal was to ultimately reach a common consensus under which every party in the Opposition could unite to fight the Government.