Fonseka claims life under threat
(Created date: 28-Jan-2010) Back
Describes Mahinda’s victory as ‘unrealistic and unacceptable’
by Zacki Jabbar
The Oppositions Common Presidential Candidate Sarath Fonseka, while describing the magnitude of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s victory as "unrealistic and unacceptable", said yesterday that there was a threat to his life.
Addressing the media at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Colombo, where he was residing, Fonseka alleged that the government had held him captive by posting around 300 armed personnel outside the hotel.
"They have arrested eleven of my bodyguards and my life is now under threat. The bodyguards were humiliated by being asked to kneel down on the road before being taken away," he said.
Fonseka said that the Inspector General of Police and the Elections Commissioner have been informed of the harassment he was being subjected to and the threat to his life.
"The margin by which Mahinda Rajapaksa won Tuesday’s poll is so unrealistic that no right thinking person would accept it," Fonseka said.
"I toured the length and breadth of the country during the campaign. Large crowds attended my meetings and their was overwhelming support for me. But, the final result defies the popular support that was publicly evident."
JVP’s parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the treatment meted out to Fonseka was a continuation of the harassment that the Opposition was subjected to throughout the election campaign. "We are witnessing the strengthening of a dictatorship and the destruction of all democratic rights."
