UNP to boycott CHOGM

Friday, 15 November 2013 05:56 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

main Opposition party, the UNP, will boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting opening ceremony today, in protest of the Government’s undemocratic and violent conduct while the summit has been underway this week.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was attacked allegedly by Government-sponsored demonstrators on Wednesday, would not be attending the CHOGM opening ceremony. He said it was UPFA Provincial Councillors and Government supporters who were behind the attacks on a Human Rights Festival at Sirikotha over the past two days. “We cannot legitimise this summit that is aimed at upholding the Commonwealth’s democratic values when the Government is blatantly violating those same values. Freedom of expression is a fundamental tenet of those values,” Attanayake said. Sri Lanka is under military rule, the UNP charged.