Sri Lanka main opposition accuses government of trying to mislead the public

Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) today accused the government of trying to distract people from key issues faced by the country and to cover the government's failure to reduce cost of living. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a press conference today
that the government was trying to rally the people to protest against the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva in order to distract the people from more serious issues in the country like the economic crisis. He said the government had forced people to attend the protests organized yesterday against the UNHRC sessions by the governing party in various parts of the country. Massive crowds flocked to Sri Lankan capital Colombo and other major cities across the island Monday to express solidarity against a resolution on Sri Lanka to be presented at the 19th sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland that is currently underway. Attanayake observed that Samurdhi workers had been forced to attend yesterday's protests while some public sector employees had been threatened to participate in the protests saying they would have to face severe repercussions otherwise. He says the government is misleading the people and most of the government ministers who participated in yesterday's protest campaign had said the President and the government were to be sent to the electric chair at the UNHRC sessions. Media Spokesman of the UNP, parliamentarian Gayantha Karunathillake addressing a news conference in Colombo said the island wide protests organized by the government yesterday were an attempt to divert the attention from the real issues burdening the common people. He said the party is against any resolution that may be passed at the UNHRC against Sri Lanka, but the government was to blame since it is wholly responsible for placing the people and country in a vulnerable situation. The opposition party has organized island wide demonstrations to protest the recent hike in fuel prices and the subsequent escalation of cost of living. Country's Treasury Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundara defending the hike in fuel prices has said that criticisms made on this with a political point of view were not fair. During the recent past, fuel was sold with a huge subsidy but subsidizing fuel and electricity was no longer sustainable due to the losses incurred by the Electricity Board as well as the Petroleum Corporation, he has explained. Sri Lanka is granting considerable concessions to the public with numerous subsidies including fertilizer and Samurdhi subsidies and managing the economy shouldering the burden of all these subsidies is an arduous task, the Treasury Secretary has said.