Sri Lanka’s Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said on Wednesday that he was committed to protect democracy despite personal abuse and slander thrown at him by the government led by disputed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In a statement, Jayasuriya said the baseless allegations are levelled against him “through regular press conferences by political parties that failed to show their majority in parliament in the proper manner and through political protests organised with the participation of their party members can be observed.”
Jayasuriya also filed a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) over a fake letter circulating on social media claiming it was sent by him to the Chief Justice, the Colombo Gazette reported. The letter quoted Jayasuriya as requesting the opinion of the Chief Justice on if President Maithripapala Sirisena was in a situation where he could not exercise, perform and discharge the powers, duties and functions of his office, the paper said.
Jayasuriya said he had never sent such a letter and has requested the CID to investigate the fake letter.
Sri Lanka is witnessing a political crisis since President Sirisena abruptly sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and installed ex-strongman Rajapaksa in his place on October 26.