‘We knew protests of ‘red-shirt gang’ would be like the fizz and bubble of a soda water bottle’ – Weerawansa

On Pompeo’s visit

By Saman Indrajith

The ‘red-shirt gang’ that did not breathe a word at the time John Kerry and Samantha Powell visited Sri Lanka has suddenly woken up to warn of a “grave danger to the country’s sovereignty” when US State Secretary Mike Pompeo came here as a part of his Asian tour, JNP leader, Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa said.

Addressing a media conference at the JNP Headquarters in Pitakotte, the Minister said: “We knew all these protests and shouting would have only the fizz and bubble of a soda water bottle that would die soon with Pompeo leaving the country. So, we remained silent and observed the situation. Now, it’s all over without the three percent group achieving the expected results”.

Weerawansa said that the nation would have harbored fears of dangers to the country’s sovereignty if Ranil Wickremesinghe was in power as the government would have succumbed to any external pressure.

“President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has a backbone to drive home the point that he was not ready to betray the country’s sovereignty to maintain foreign relations. The President pledged when he took oath of the office at the Ruwanweliseya in Anuradhapura that Sri Lanka would not hesitate to leave the membership of any international body if the country’s security forces were being pressured by any such organization. With a leader of this stature at the helm, we are not afraid to welcome any foreign leader.”

“The Millennium Challenge Corporation compact issue was taken up at the last Cabinet meeting, where the President gave us an assurance that there would be no signing of MCC or a discussion to that effect with Pompeo. We assure the people of this country that our government will not sign the MCC. We will not be in such a government”, Weerawansa continued.

He further said: “You all know when the MCC issue was raised at the press conference with Pompeo, the reply he gave was that it was a matter for Sri Lanka to decide on. The Sajith group that has lost its bearings and the ‘three percent red-shirt group’ wished that Pompeo would say something in favour of the MCC during his visit. But their hopes were shattered like a glass bowl that hit a rock”.

JNP Propaganda Secretary MP Mohamed Muzammil also addressed the media.