Repercusssions from Oxford debacle spills over to Sri Lanka's parliament
[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 03:17 GMT]
A parliamentary Select Committee is to be appointed to inquire if the opposition United National party (UNP) MP, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, had acted in contravention against the Sri Lanka's Constitution, State run daily Dinamina said. Ruling party alleged that the MP instigated the protests by Tamil activists in UK that resulted in the cancellation of Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse's speaking engagement at the Oxford Union. Both the government and even the main opposition, United National Party (UNP) agreed for the setting up of the committee.
Ruling party MPs allege that Dr Jayawardena participated in the "pro-LTTE protest" held in London against Rajapaksa. Oxford Union, fearing security needs around Oxford will overwhelm the local police resources, cancelled the event citing security reasons. Jayawardena denied any knowledge of such a protest and have explicitly stated that he did not take part in such protests. Meanwhile, ruling party cabinet Ministers also claimed that the General Secretary of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne, also participated in the "pro-LTTE protest campaign" held in the United Kingdom. NSSP rejected the allegations and said that Dr. Karunaratne is "currently in the UK he had not participated in the protest organised by LTTE supporters." With the cancellation of Thursday's scheduled event at Oxford, Mr. Rajapakse and his one-hundred strong entourage, including suspect war-criminal ex-General Chagi Gallage, cut-short the stay in London and made a pre-mature exit Thursday evening, arriving at the Colombo airport at 3:00 p.m. Friday.
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