By Saman Indrajith

Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) senior member, Attorney-at-Law Udul Premaratne yesterday told the media that the UNP which had sought to enlist FSP leader Kumar Gunaratnam’s support to fight the Mahinda Rajapaksa government a few years back now considered him an enemy.

“When Comrade Gunaratnam was abducted and later taken into police custody by the Rajapaksa regime, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was the then Opposition Leader, contacted me. He told me that Gunaratnam had a right to engage in politics here. He offered to help us fight against the Rajapaksa regime. He told me his party could appoint MP Ravi Karunanayake, who is the Minister of Finance today, to liaise with us,” Premaratne said at the Centre for Society and Religion in Colombo yesterday.

“We did not accept the UNP’s offer. We neither had nor will have anything to do with the UNP unlike some other left parties. The UNP then recognised Gunaratnam’s citizenship and was ready to fight for those rights, but now its position has changed.”

Leader of the Nawa Sama Samaja Party, Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratne said: “MP Wimal Weerawansa has two or three passports. Does not that amount to violation of immigration laws? When Weerawansa was caught by CID officials at Katunayake, he was bailed out and Weerawansa could obtain a new passport within one hour, that, too, is between 5.00 to 6.00 pm. Not even during office hours! This is a country where the immigration rules are flouted at the whims and fancies of rulers. Now Gunaratnam has been taken in citing the violation of some immigration rules as the reason. The actual reason for his arrest is that his politics is not acceptable to the government.”

Niranjani Gunaratnam, Sister of Premakumar said: “My brother is not a criminal. He came home to see our mother who is seriously ill. Then policemen came and dragged him out like a common criminal while our mother was crying. He is being harassed because of his politics. Is this democracy? He should be with our mother. We ask the authorities to take this situation into consideration and release him on humanitarian grounds.”

FSP Central Committee Member Duminda Nagamuwa said that many political parties, civil organisations and key social activists had pledged their solidarity with the FSP and, together, they would launch a struggle to secure the release of Gunaratnam.

Propaganda Secretary of the FLSP Pubudu Jayagoda, Dr Nimral Ranjtih Devasiri of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations, Joseph Stalin General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, Lahiru Weerasekera Convener of the Inter University Students’ Federation, Kaushalya Kumarsinghe of the Nawa Parapura (New Generation), Vidarshana Kannangara of the Praxis Collective and Sarath Kahagalle of the Independent Teachers’ Union addressed the media.

Courtesy:The Island