Janabala sena protest:

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, yesterday, alleged the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government did not care to do anything to bring back former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran wanted in connection with treasury bonds scams perpetrated in 2015 and 2016.

Mahendran lived overseas without any trouble, Rajapaksa said.The government was trying to silence the genuine Opposition by setting up Special High Courts, the former President said. The decisions in respect of those who were to be summoned by the Special High Courts had been taken by the Justice Minister after summoning the Attorney General to her office, the former President said.

The country lacked proper leadership, the former President said, urging the people to rally behind the Joint Opposition and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.

Rajapaksa was addressing a protest rally at the Viharamaha Devi open air theatre. He alleged the government was selling public property. He urged foreigners to be wary of acquiring Sri Lankan assets. Former President Rajapaksa said that a future government would investigate all questionable transactions under the present administration. He said the government had not received a mandate to divest state assets. He accused the government leader of selling state ventures to get kickbacks.

The Joint Opposition/Sri Lanka Podujana Peramun (SLPP) members and supporters protested at the Lipton Circus yesterday and marched to the Viharamaha Devi open air theatre, where the former President and JO leaders spoke.

A section of the SLFP’s Group of 16, too, joined the protest march and later Senior Vice President of the SLFP MP John Seneviratne addressed the gathering.

Rajapaksa said the government was using various ruses to distract public attention from the political fallout of the biggest ever financial crime in the country—the Treasury bond scams.

Rajapaksa alleged that the government was rapidly moving towards a dictatorship having taken control of the judiciary. Those who had been worried about the independence of judiciary were silent today, he added.

The former President flayed the government for using the New Inland Revenue Act to impose more economic burdens on the people who were struggling to make ends meet.