Harin urges people to stand up against injustice

COLOMBO (News1st): Opposition parliamentarian Harin Fernando has called upon the people to stand up against injustice and the tampering of democracy in the country. "Regardless of the passage of the 20th amendment, the people must stand up against injustice and unfairness," the Samagi Jana Balawegaya lawmaker said on Wednesday. He observed that individuals charged with offences committed under President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government are being granted bail and accquited by courts at present. This included Anusha Palpita, a former Telecommunications Regulatory Commission director-general, and former president's secretary Lalith Weeratunga, acquitted of misappropriation charges recently. "On November 19, a parliamentarian who flung his chair at the Speaker and whose bar was sealed due to tax evasion of Rs 1 billion, had his license returned," Fernando pointed out. He said that indictments filed against minister Janaka Bandara over a murder had been quashed by the Appeal Court the following day. "On November 21, an individual attached to a company involved in the illegal arms trade and the repatriation process recently received 5000 acres of land," the parliamentarian said. He added that on November 23, the foreign travel ban had been lifted on Basil Rajapaksa, a dual citizen charged with laundering Rs 2.9 billion. "On the 25th, the summons made by the Appeals Court with regard to the Lalith-Kugan case on the President was made null. On the 24th, Pillayan was released at noon," Fernando observed. He claimed that the country is heading in a downwards trend due to certain allies of the government. "The image of (former) President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has good politicians around him, is being destroyed due to a few people," the Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP remarked.