The UNP on Friday called for an
international investigation into the
assassination of The Sunday Leader
Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickrematunge.
The party staged a protest in
parliament on Friday with several of its
MPs sitting in the well of the house in
front of the Speaker’s chair, with red
and black shawls draped around their
necks, holding placards and accusing the
government of murdering Wickrematunge.
UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe
gagged his mouth with a red scarf whilst
in the parliament chamber to symbolise
the stifling of media freedom, and in a
speech he warned of dangers to the
country’s moral fabric if murders such
as that of The Sunday Leader
Editor were allowed to go unpunished.
Kurunegala District MP Dayasiri
Jayasekera raised a point of
Parliamentary Privilege on Friday,
stating that he had received a telephone
death threat from a caller threatening
to deliver him the same fate as Lasantha
Wickrematunge.
"He said I was too outspoken against
the government, both in and out of
parliament," Jayasekera told the house.
The government did not formally
respond to the concerns raised by the
UNP, however Minister Mahindananda
Aluthgamage led a chorus of government
members taunting the UNP to take steps
to protect its leader from becoming the
next target of attack.
