United National Party chief Ranil Wickramasinghe is expected to raise the issue of the incarceration of former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka when he meets top Indian officials and politicians, said UNP leader and former Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera.
“I am sure this will also be in the agenda when he meets Indian leaders,” Mr.Samaraweera said, in response to a question at the UNP party office here. He expected India to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government to secure the release of the jailed Army Commander. Mr.Wickramasinghe left for India on Sunday night.
UNP deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya said that Mr.Fonseka’s health had deteriorated in prison. “We are very worried about his health…Doctors had advised that he should be in a dust free environment but even this is not provided,” he said and added that Mr.Fonseka should have been treated as a political prisoner. The government should take responsibility for his life and his health, he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr.Jayasuriya said that the UNP would continue its agitation to force the government to release Mr.Fonseka, and also lift the provisions of the Emergency laws, now enforced in the country.
Meanwhile, the Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians, Inter-Parliamentary Union, has written to Jayalath Jayawardena, MP, to communicate the decision of the Committee “to send, as far as possible, an international observer to the proceedings in the case of Mr.Sarath Fonseka…A first observer mission is now scheduled for early June 2011.”