Describing the detention of Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka as a “blow to democracy”, the island nation’s Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said the former army chief was being victimised after the elections.
“There is no basis for his arrest. After the (presidential) elections, he (Fonseka) has been victimised,” Wickremesinghe told reporters at the airport here.
“It is a blow to democracy in Sri Lanka,” said Wickremesinghe, who was in India to meet External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna in New Delhi to discuss issues pertaining to Indo-Lanka relations.
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Wickremesinghe said that if Fonseka had committed any offence, he had to be charged in court.
Asked how India should respond to Fonseka’s arrest, he said, “India will do what is good. I will leave it to them to handle it in a more suitable way.”
He also said he would move the Sri Lankan court to challenge Fonseka’s arrest after meeting various leaders there.
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