Opposition trying to undermine the democracy in Sri Lanka

The opposition in Sri Lanka by challenging the verdict of the people at the last Presidential election which resulted in President Mahinda Rajapaksa comfortably securing a second term, were trying to undermine the democracy in Sri Lanka, alleged Rohitha Bogollagama Sri Lanka Foreign Minister.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister made this observation when the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed paid a courtesy call on him on 19th February 2010 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the discussions, the visiting Maldivian Foreign Minister thanked Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama for the meeting and conveyed his Government’s congratulations on the resounding victory President Mahinda Rajapaksa enjoyed, at the recently held Presidential Election.
Responding to his Maldivian counterpart, Foreign Minister Bogollagama briefed him on post election developments and underlined the importance of preserving democracy, especially in the SAARC region.

The Foreign Minister also explained the reasons behind the arrest of former Gen. Sarath Fonseka by the law enforcement authorities and stated that former Gen. Fonseka was apprehended due to inappropriate activities while he served as the Army Commander and as Chief of Defense Staff and not due to his entry into politics. The Foreign Minister stated that the arrest of the former General was in keeping with the Army Act.

Foreign Minister Bogollagama elaborated further by stating that a substantial sum of money in US Dollars and other foreign currencies were found in the bank vaults of former Gen. Fonseka’s relatives which contravened domestic laws pertaining to foreign currency.

He also pointed out that such violation also affected the national interest and national security of Sri Lanka. The Minister also allude to the possible involvement of anti-national forces in raising such substantial funds which brought together parties/groups with different and extremist political ideologies to undermine democracy in Sri Lanka and further stated that investigations were underway to ascertain whether these funds were indeed channeled to these groups for such purposes.

Foreign Minister Bogollagama also pointed out that as the LTTE had not been militarily successful it was now trying to use its ‘white collar’ activists to achieve its objectives. The Foreign Minister cautioned his Maldivian counterpart that countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives were vulnerable to such threats and that it would be in the interest of the two countries to share important information with each other and other member countries of the SAARC.

The two Foreign Ministers also discussed issues pertaining to a MoU on Intelligence Cooperation existing between the two countries and the need for the Maldives to join the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD). Senior officials of the Foreign Ministry were associated with the discussions.

- Asian Tribune -