A clash between the supporters of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) party and the supporters of the common opposition presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka in the Polonnaruwa town this morning injured four people including a BBC reporter, the police said.
A tense situation has risen in the town following the clash and the Police has brought the situation under control, the police spokesman said.
Supporters from both parties have been injured and some vehicles have been burnt.
Among the injured was a BBC Sandeshaya journalist, Thakshila Dilrukshi Jayasena, She has been admitted to the Polonnaruwa hospital after sustaining an injury to the head.
BBC said she was allegedly assaulted by the ruling party supporters as she was leaving the confrontation.
Presidential Candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka yesterday said that after January 26, he will silence the foul mouth of Labour Minister Mervyn Silva, make him behave like a kitten and pay for the sins he has committed."I will expose all corrupt elements in this regime and their misdeeds, when I am elected. They are already aware of this and some of them have developed heart problems and other ailments as they know what is in store for them," Fonseka said.
"I have not entered into any agreement with any party and we co-operate on the basis of trust," he said."I will not take revenge from those who were engaged in violence while campaigning against me, though my supporters were attacked by them seriously injuring them, burning our election offices, destroying cutouts, etc. Instead they will be rehabilitated so that they could join society as useful citizens," Gen Fonseka said.
Mrs Dayaseeli Liyanage, the Lankadeepa journalist who ‘spinned’ the false story of MP R Sambandan, leader of the TNA having made comments against General Fonseka’s campaign, has resigned from her job at Wijeya Newspapers. Her resignation comes in the wake of a call for evidence of the so called interview she had with Mr Sambandan. Unable to produce any, she has apparently decided to quit.Sunday Lankadeepa on 10th January carried a story by Mrs Liyanage that alleged many false statements – among them were the amalgamation of north and east, a permanent solution for the north/east issue and the removal of the high security zones said to have been the conditions laid down by the TNA and to which the article alleged, General Fonseka had agreed to. Based on this article created obviously with the malicious intent of damaging the General’s campaign, Government Ministers and MPs attempted to carry a massive campaign against General Fonseka.
Leader of the SLFP-M Mangala Samaraweera, yesterday criticised The Island newspaper for what he called the "trivializing of the killing of an innocent mother", by a gunmen on a motor bicycle.Samaraweera told a news conference in Colombo that The Island’s coverage of the killing of a mother named Kusumawathie, while she was traveling in a bus to a UNP rally in Tissamaharama on Tuesday, was questionable.
"The Island Newspaper has trivialized the incident by having it in small print on the corner of the page," he alleged. "Is this because a UNPer’s life is less valuable than another? If someone had even tapped a supporter of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, The Island would have made it the headline story."
Leader of the JVP Somawansa Amerasinghe said that the answer to those querying the need to abolish the Executive Presidency lay in the brazen killing of Kusumawathie.
"It is because of the unbridled powers vested in the Executive Presidency that an innocent mother had to make the supreme sacrifice. We would like to ask the rank file in the SLFP if this is the culture they want to perpetuate. Do,you wish to continue with the 40 years of bloodshed?"
President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday asserted that he is not ready to betray the country for a few votes and he is well aware of the problems of the Tamils in the North. There is no room for a divided country, accepting the homeland concept of the separatists or autonomy leading for a whatever form of Eelam LTTE had demanded, he added.
He was addressing the first election rally in the City of Colombo held at Campbell Park, Colombo, yesterday.
Gunmen shot and killed a 60-year-old woman in an attack on a bus carrying UNP supporters at Ranna in Tangalle this afternoon (Jan. 12), said the media unit of Gen. Sarath Fonseka.
This is the first incident in which a fatality has been reported due to violence related to the campaign in the run up to the January 26 presidential election.
According to a complaint lodged with Hungama Police, 10 other people were injured in the shooting around 12.30 pm by armed men on a motorcycle.
The group was on its way to Tissamaharama, where a campaign rally was due to take place in support of common opposition's presidential candidate Gen. Fonseka.
Eight of the wounded in critical condition have been transferred to Matara Hospital.
The group comprised supporters of MP Sajith Premadasa, said Gen. Fonseka's media unit.
The United States has called for a peaceful election in Sri Lanka and expressed deep concern by the escalating violence surrounding the upcoming polls, particularly over reports of today’s fatal shooting in Tangalle.
The US Embassy in Colombo, in a statement, urged the appropriate authorities to conduct a full investigation on today’s incident and other acts of violence and to protect those exercising their democratic right to support the candidate of their choice.
“This is the first nation-wide election in a peaceful, united Sri Lanka in several decades. We hope that the election is conducted freely, fairly and without violence,” the US Embassy statement said.
Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake threatened, yesterday, to withdraw from his duties related to the Presidential Election asserting that the authorities concerned had not aided him by adhering to the guidelines and regulations issued by him to create an atmosphere conducive to a free and fair election.
Mr. Dissanayake, at a meeting with the representatives of political parties, expressed his disgust and disappointment over the failure of the government to cooperate with him in this respect. However, he withdrew his threat after the political parties assured him that they would abide by the election laws in the run up to the
election. Mr. Dissanayake had reportedly told the meeting that the Competent Authority appointed by him had been humiliated by the state media. (Read More)
The preliminary report of the Programme for Protection of Public Resources (PPPR) has received indifferent responses from the parties concerned, regarding the use of public property for campaigning purposes, Executive Director of Transparency International J. C. Weliamuna said.
“We sent a report to the Elections Commissioner and the various organizations mentioned in the preliminary report, to which we have received some response. Unfortunately, not all the organizations have responded to the findings”, he said
Meanwhile, the second report of the PPPR was released last Monday, again highlighting the misuse of public resources, for the use of presidential candidates for the upcoming elections. The report said that a media organization had been used to print posters and booklets. The use of the official residence for political activity was also highlighted.
New Year greeting via SMS was also discussed in the report, which states that such an order can be made only if the message was in interest of national security, public order and the defense of the country. (Read More)
Opposition Common candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka has sent letters of demand to two publications of the state run Lake House newspapers for allegedly publishing defamatory articles against him.
Through his attorneys, Paul Ratnayake Assocaites, Gen. Fonseka sent the letters of demand against the Editor of the Sunday Observer, Editor- Silumina, printer, publisher of Associated Newspaper of Ceylon Limited claiming Rs. 2000 millions as damages.
Gen. Fonseka claimed that the articles published in the newspapers on Sunday, January 10 were defamatory of him and they were meant to convey total falsehoods to the public of Sri Lanka. “We are instructed that the said articles had been written with express malice in order to tarnish the unblemished character of our client, at the eve of the Presidential Election of which he is a candidate,” the law firm wrote to the defendants.He estimated the damage to cause him with each articles at Rs. one billion.
