Ahimsa Wickrematunge, the daughter of slain Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last week accused the government of safeguarding the killers of her father.
Her retaliation at the premier came after he had raised questions, earlier in the week whether Gotabaya Rajapaksa would apologise for her father’s assassination. Having ruled-out a possible apology from Gotabaya, Wickrematunga asked the Prime Minister whether he would apologise?
“Let me put your mind at ease. Gotabaya Rajapaksa will never apologise for my father’s murder. In television interviews over the past 10 years, he has made no secret of the fact that he was proud of it. He has made up his mind not to apologise. But have you, Prime Minister? Will you apologise for spending the past four-and-a-half years protecting and cavorting with the man you today call a mass murderer,” read the letter.
Wickrematunga came down hard on the PM for letting them go scot-free and using Wickramatunge’s assassination to attract voters.
“From the day my father died, you have invoked his name to win votes. My father’s murder was a prop in the 2015 Presidential and Parliamentary election campaigns that made you Prime Minister. You brought President Sirisena to power and won control of Parliament for the UNP, all by promising justice for my father’s murder.”
She also took the Prime Minister to task for reversing priorities after he came to power.