Arrest Warrants Out For Mangala And 10 Others
October 14, 2013
UNP Parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera will surrender himself to court soon, after the Matara Magistrate Court issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with the October 5 intra-party clashes in the Southern city, Colombo Telegraph learns.
The order came after police informed court that enough evidence existed to make the arrest.
Court also ordered the arrest of 10 others in connection with the violence.
Mangala Samaraweera is an ardent supporter of UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and led his supporters against the anti-Ranil Marchers in Matara last weekend.
Both sides took to violence during the clashes, but so far the bulk of those arrested are members of the Samaraweera faction.
Samaraweera, is a former Foreign Minister and Campaign Manager of the Mahinda Rajapaksapresidential campaign in 2005.
He defected from the UPFA in 2007 and set up the SLFP Mahajana Wing after which he formally joined the UNP.
October 14, 2013
“The United National Party (UNP) has been roiled by internal dissension since the party lost the April parliamentary election. The dissent is a bit unfocused, but its main aim is to clip the wings of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UNP and Opposition Leader, and/or remove him as party leader. (Wickremesinghe was prime minister from December 2001 until the UNP’s defeat in the April election.)” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.
Thilanga
The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” and discuses the UNP’s internal crisis after the 2005 April parliamentary election. The cable is signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead on May 12, 2004.
The ambassador wrote; “Two main challenges to Wickremesinghe’s leadership of the party have emerged recently: – In the first challenge, Sajith Premadasa, a UNP MP from Hambantota District in the south, has proposed changes to how the UNP selects its party officers. Premadasa, who is the son of former President Premadasa and a former deputy minister, told poloff on May 12 that he had introduced a proposal in a May 10 UNP parliamentary group meeting that all party officers be elected. (Some press reports state that Premadasa wants a ‘secret’ ballot, but he did not confirm this. Currently, the party leader appoints all the party’s officers.) Premadasa also proposed that a committee structure be set up to make policy decisions. Premadasa told poloff he had made these proposals out of ‘a genuine need for reform within the UNP on several levels,’ and because he felt the UNP needed ‘more internal democracy.’ Although he stressed to poloff that his proposal was not anti-Wickremesinghe in thrust, Premadasa has been known to have had a tense relationship with the former PM for some time. Premadasa said his proposal had been well-received by many party members, though the party leadership had not yet formally weighed in on them as of yet. The UNP was scheduled to have further meetings later this week to review Premadasa’s proposals as well as other issues. (In a May 12 meeting with the Ambassador, G.L. Peiris, a former minister, derided Premadasa’s proposals, asserting that the party leader had to have authority to make decisions and should not be constrained in doing so by a committee structure.)”Read More
