Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has called on all political parties in Sri Lanka to unite against the emerging attempts to establish a dictatorship by silencing opposition voices.
Speaking at the 79th anniversary celebrations of the United National Party (UNP) in Colombo on Saturday (20), Wickremesinghe urged opposition forces to come together as they did in 1975 to hold 1,000 public meetings across the country as a show of unity and democratic resistance.
“These meetings will show the people’s strength,” he said, warning that state mechanisms, including the police, might be used to disrupt them.
“We cannot stop here. We must take the next step. The time is now,” he said.
Wickremesinghe drew parallels with past protest movements, recalling the Satyagraha campaign led alongside the late J.R. Jayewardene and the Pada Yatra march led by Mahinda Rajapaksa.
He suggested a similar mass mobilisation could be the start of a broader democratic movement.
“Let us go forward. Let us unite,” he added.
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