“Today, it is using violence, intimidation and murder tactics mainly directed against the Opposition parties; tomorrow, it will be you” he pinpointed. ‘When the neighbour’s wall is ablaze, your own is at stake”, he warned.

He referred to a spate of incidents of violence and threats directed against UNP candidates and M.P.s. Citing an incident in Trincomalee yesterday (8May), he explained,
how , no less a person than a President’s advisor , Bharatha Lakshman ,with a band of thugs (Army deserters)  came to Trincomalee, and openly threatened UNP M.P. Joseph Michael Perera and his group to immediately leave Trincomalee , or they will have to face dire consequences. In another separate incident, another UNP candidate was forced to resign. Two hand grenades were also lobbed at a House where UNP supporters were residing, and how the so called President advisor arranged for the arrest of the innocent house owners by the Police, he bemoaned.

Though elections campaign had to end on the 7th May, it is reported, that Govt. is disregarding the regulations. It is continuing to remove UNP posters and replacing them with those of the Govt. and laying foundation stones in an attempt to hoodwink he masses. Pillayan too is continuing to erect camps in all areas, Trincomalee Ampara and other districts even today, where there are a dense population, viewed as an attempt to rig elections, he exhorted.

Kiriella said, the situation is so drastic and  unlawful that even as he is speaking, UNP M.P.s Ravi Karunanayake, Joseph Michael Perera and others are at a meeting with the IGP to brief him on this Govt. backed tyranny and to urge him to arrest Baratha Lakshman for the terror he is unleashing..

If people want to defeat terror, restore peace and provide a brighter future for their children free from a gun and terror culture, he said, it is only UNP that can save them, which is the only party which stands for peace and unity of all ethnic races.