Sarath Weerasekera, Sri Lanka’s former Public Security Minister, called for Tamil university students in Jaffna who pulled down a Sri Lankan lion flag and replaced it with a black flag earlier this month to be arrested.
The Sinhala extremist and former Chairman of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security, claimed that the students, who were protesting on Sri Lanka’s Independence Day alongside thousands of others across the North-East “could be linked to the separatist LTTE”.
“This is a serious issue,” he said. “Why is the Anura Kumara Dissanayake led government not investigating the matter? Why are they silent?”
The retired Navy Chief of Staff also sent out a stark warning to Tamils who are protesting against an illegally constructed Buddhist temple in Jaffna.
On Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), Weerasekera warned Tamil parliamentarian S Shritharan “not to touch Tissa Vihara or face consequences!”.
“The matter was almost settled when I was the Chairman of the Oversight Committee on National Security in Parliament of Sri Lanka,” he claimed. “I warn him & Gajen Ponnambalam & supporters not to test the patience of Sinhalese Buddhist in Sri Lanka. Enough is enough!”
The former minister has a record of ultranationalism having previously argued that NGOs and civil society activists should be charged with treason and sentenced to death for their criticism of Sri Lanka. He had also called for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to be banned and rallied against the Sri Lankan national anthem being sung in Tamil. He previously attacked Tamil protesters in Jaffna claiming that they had no right to remember “dead terrorists”.
Despite his racist remarks, Weerasekera received the highest number of preferential votes in the Colombo district in 2020’s parliamentary election, and went on to represent the Sri Lankan capital in parliament.
