Sri Lanka's most revered Buddhist monks of the Mahanayake chapter on Thursday wrote an impassioned plea to the president, Maithripala Sirisena, urging him to safeguard his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa by maintaining his security.
"The terrorists have a grudge against the first citizen of the country, whoever it is, that finished a 30-year-old savage war waged by a group of terrorists in a manner seen nowhere in the world using modern weapons and military power, airplanes, ships, armoured tanks, submarines and suicide bombers. It is accepted by most people that although terrorism was eliminated from our motherland, they are active and powerful in many parts of the world," the monk, Dawuldena Gnanissara wrote in a letter, translated by the Daily Mirror.
"Everyone knows that there is no other country in the world that faced such a powerful terror group in recent history. Therefore I advice you with compassion to shelve the decision not to provide military security to a defeated leader, and maintain the military security provided to the former president by respecting the wishes of a larger percentage of the people."
See full letter here.
The removal of Mr Rajapaksa's military security sparked a violent exchange in parliament earlier this week, resulting in one MP being admitted in hospital with injuries.
"The terrorists have a grudge against the first citizen of the country, whoever it is, that finished a 30-year-old savage war waged by a group of terrorists in a manner seen nowhere in the world using modern weapons and military power, airplanes, ships, armoured tanks, submarines and suicide bombers. It is accepted by most people that although terrorism was eliminated from our motherland, they are active and powerful in many parts of the world," the monk, Dawuldena Gnanissara wrote in a letter, translated by the Daily Mirror.
"Everyone knows that there is no other country in the world that faced such a powerful terror group in recent history. Therefore I advice you with compassion to shelve the decision not to provide military security to a defeated leader, and maintain the military security provided to the former president by respecting the wishes of a larger percentage of the people."
See full letter here.
The removal of Mr Rajapaksa's military security sparked a violent exchange in parliament earlier this week, resulting in one MP being admitted in hospital with injuries.