JHU PROTEST MARCH ORGANIZING MEETING HELD IN MAHINDA WIJESEKERA’S HOUSE; JHU, TNA AND UNP TO TAKE OVER PARLIAMENTARY POWER SAYS TAMIL NET
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
June 27, 12.30 PM:The rebel Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Member of Parliament Venerable Aparekke Punnananda Thero in a letter sent to a party leader Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero asked why an organizing meeting of the ‘protest foot march’ of the JHU was held in the house of the former UNP Minister of Fisheries , Mahinda Wijesekera.
Venerable Punnananda in his letter said the meeting had been held in the former UNP minister and present member of parliament Mahinda Wijesekera , June 24 .
The meeting was reportedly held to organize a protest foot march against the government from Matara in the Southern Province to the Kelani Vihara of the Western Province , imitating the JVP protest marches against the former UNP government and the Interim Self Governing Authority proposed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
This is the second time , Wijesekera’s name has been linked with the Buddhist monk political party, the JHU . Earlier BBC’s Sandeshaya reported that both former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mahinda Wijesekera had come to the defense of the JHU.
Mahinda Wijesekera, against whom serious corruption charges have been raised by the media and whose record shows several times he had threatened journalists in the past for publishing such corruption charges, in a Sandeshaya interview, faulted government owned media for publishing one sided reports to berate the Buddhist monks of the JHU.
At a different meeting held at the J. R. Jayewardene Cultural Center in Cinnamon Gardens Former Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe , June 22 , said in reference , to allegedly injured private parts of a JHU parliamentarian , that parliamentarians would soon be geared in cricketer’s protective wear when attending parliament.
Speaking at a second BBC Sandeshaya interview Ranil Wickremesinghe protégé and former UNP Minister Rajitha Senarathna said, June 26, that the United opposition , that included the JHU, the LTTE proxy party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Upcountry People’s Front (UPF) Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) led by the UNP would show the might of them by extra-parliamentary activities like protest foot marches and passing legislation in the parliament to fulfill the political agenda of the opposition.
Showing more details of the activities of the united opposition, The Tamil Net, the news website controlled by the LTTE published the following item:
“ Leaders of opposition parties, United National Party (UNP), Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) are to meet the Speaker Mr.W.J.M.Lokkubandara Monday before discussing the strategy to adopt to present a co-ordinated front to the actions of the ruling minority UPFA government when the parliament meets on July 20, sources said.
“Leaders of the common opposition at their last meeting held on Wednesday decided to take control of the ministerial consultative committees. Two representatives of each party in the opposition will be appointed to these ministerial committees. They also decided to meet once in two week regularly and prepare the agenda on parliamentary affairs, party sources said.”
