COLOMBO: Namal Rajapaksa, opposition MP and son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested on Tuesday for trying to storm the Indian Consulate in Hambantota on Friday in protest against the Lankan government’s bid to go for a joint venture with India to run the non-functioning Mattala International Airport.

Namal Rajapaksa had been arrested along with five others who took part in the protest and remanded till Oct 16 sources said. Tuesday’s arrests follows a string of arrests made over the weekend which totalled to 28 persons.

Among the participants in the rally were top leaders of the opposition like former ministers Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Prof G.L. Peiris and Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.

Initially, the demonstration was to be held at the Mattala airport in Hambantota but since the police had obtained a court order prohibiting demonstrations there, the organisers, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), turned their anger on the Office of the Indian Consul General in Hambantota town.

The police had to use tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd which tried to break the iron barriers put up by the police at the entrance of the consulate.

Though the deal to run the Mattala airport as a joint venture with India is yet to be finalised, and talks are still at a very early stage, Sri Lankan joint opposition politicians led by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa have assumed that the deal is already through.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2017