Phantoms of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka’s reign of terror
Anti-Rajapaksa protesters seek answers over the murder of rugby player Wasim Thajudeen.
GREG BEARUp
South Asia correspondent
South Asia correspondent
Mahinda Rajapaksa sits at a desk in his party office beneath a photo of himself. He’s not especially tall but solid in the chest and arms; like an old rugby prop, his head seems to rest on his shoulders without much need for a neck. He’s never seen in public without his brown scarf, supposedly signifying the sweaty rags of Sri Lanka’s hard-toiling farmers. On his fingers this man of the people wears three chunky gold rings and on his wrist a bracelet of jade balls. Everyone here still calls him Mr President.