Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran has called on the speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament not to recognise Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Leader of the Opposition, in a letter that was also sent to the European Union, the Commonwealth, the UN Secretary-General and the heads of Foreign Missions in Colombo.

Sumanthiran stated that the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) “cannot be considered as a party in Opposition since the Leader of the UPFA is the Head of Government and the Head of the Cabinet of Ministers”.

Therfore, the “UPFA can in no way be described as a party in Opposition and consequently no member of the UPFA, in such capacity, can be appointed as the Leader of the Opposition,” he added.

The parliamentarian went on to state that Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former president that oversaw the killing of tens of thousands of Tamils in 2009, reportedly resigned from Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and obtained membership of Sri Lanka Podhujana Party (SLPP), vacating his seat in parliament.

“For all of the above reasons I request you not to recognize Hon Mahinda Rajapaksa as Leader of the Opposition,” the letter concluded.

See the full text of the letter here.

Earlier this week TNA leader R Sampanthan told parliament that "the events that I have outlined above tend to raise the question as to whether Sri Lanka is moving towards becoming a failed state which does not recognize the supremacy of its Constitution the primary law".