UNP admits “we are weak” but insists it will keep fighting

The UNP is yet to decide whether it will contest at the Local Government elections in the North as a single party or by forming a coalition admitting that at present they are weak as an opposition due to the politicisation of the war.
“We admit we are weak as an opposition,” UNP MP Johnston Fernando said yesterday, “And that is because the war was turned into a nationalistic movement and anyone who spoke against it was suppressed.” Speaking on the LG elections in Jaffna and Vavuniya he said that the party officials are to conduct interviews of potential candidates in Anuradhapura this week but are still to take a decision on its approach to the elections. However, the opposition still hasn’t been given access to the displaced individuals in the North. “When we tried to speak on behalf of the IDPs in the North we were labelled as pro-terrorist. We now look forward to an opportunity to serve these people.”
He added that although the Military under the leadership of the President enabled an important victory to Sri Lanka with the defeat of the LTTE, the people of the country are still suffering.
“The war has now ended and we call on the Government to give back the economic rewards to the people. For three years they have sacrificed and committed their development towards the war, and let them reap the benefits now.”
He stated that the last three years has become an era where the people of Sri Lanka were under the highest tax burden.
“When taxes and prices were going up, people were told that they must bear it for the sake of the war. Now release them from this economic burden and give them relief with a timeline, assuring them that the prices will be reduced and the taxes curtailed.”
He claimed that Ministers in the current Government have put the war forward in the last three years and absconded from their duties. “But the war is now over and we call on these Ministers to discharge their priorities and work for the people.”
UNP questions Govt. over media freedom
Stating that the opposition is concerned with the conduct of the Government in dealing with the assaults against media personnel UNP MP Johnston Fernando claimed that the democracy of the country is being compromised by these continuous attacks.
“With dozens of media personnel attacked in the last few years and many having left the country, why can’t the Government which triumphantly caught the terrorist leader Prabhakaran, capture the attackers of Poddala Jayantha?” he asked.
He stated that the UNP is and always will be ready to join hands with any party to protect democracy and media freedom. “The Government must prove itself by finding the attackers of media freedom if this country is to continue as a true democracy,” he added. “But we do not see that happening.” Claiming that in the last three years, the media was used to promote the war as a nationalistic movement, he said that true democracy cannot prevail until freedom of expression is granted to the voice of the people.