Sri Lanka opposition party suspends membership of MPs attended anti-government rally

Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has temporarily suspended the membership of its parliamentarians after they attended an anti-government rally led by former Army Commander and Democratic National Alliance leader Sarath Fonseka.
The membership of UNP MPs Palitha Range Bandara, Palitha Thewarapperuma and Ashoka Abeysinghe has been temporarily suspended pending inquiry after they attended the rally defying a ban imposed by the UNP working committee. The rally held today (October 18) at Hyde Park was organized by the United Bikkhu Front to call for abolishing of the executive presidency. Despite wide publicity and calls from the organizers to other opposition parties to unite against the government, only around 1,000 people joined Fonseka's rally. The former deputy leader of the UNP, Karu Jayasuriya who earlier campaigned for the rally, at the last minute decided not to attend the rally saying that he does not wish to fracture his party. The Marxist party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna also distanced itself from the former Army Commander and decided not to attend the rally. -->