Karu condemns assault on Opposition MPs
Following is a press release issued by UNP Co-Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya on the assault of the main opposition UNP by Members of Parliament of the Government on 22 November 2011:
We have to reiterate the fact that there is a severe eroding of democracy in this country.
The latest example is the assault of the members of the United National Party by the members of the government, when the opposition, including the UNP, the main party of the opposition, peacefully demonstrated at the time of the submission of Budget proposals in the Parliament.
Members of the UNP were assaulted by the members of the Government, in the presence of the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Leader of the United People’s Freedom Alliance and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
This is the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, not a country which has a system of government of the nature of Idi Amin, Bocassa or Col. Gaddaffi.
We need a strong opposition. Leaders of the Government say that the opposition should oppose the Government forcefully, wherever it is needed. If the reaction of the members of the Government is assaulting the members of the opposition by throwing books at them and hitting them whenever they demonstrate, we have our doubts regarding the honesty and sincerity of the statement of the Government when they say that they need an opposition which expresses views opposing the Government, if they continue to assault those who express opposing views.
We do not have a monarch in this country. If the Government expects a system where the opposition and the people say, “Majesty the sun rises because of you, Majesty flowers bloom because of you, Birds sing because of you, Majesty we breathe because of you,” we do not hesitate to take action against such a system.
We cannot allow the Government which suppressed the 17th Amendment and obtained a two-third majority in Parliament under the cover of the 18th Amendment to destroy the opposition and the public opinion against the Government by using political force.
