Ranil gets bail

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, arrested and remanded on Friday (22) for alleged misuse of state funds during a visit to London, while in office, was granted bail yesterday.

- 

Large crowds flocked to Colombo yesterday, when the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court took up the case against Wickremesinghe. In a rare show of unity, the Opposition parties have circled the wagons around Wickremesinghe, vowing to defeat what they describe as a witch-hunt against the political rivals of the government. They have accused the JVP, which leads the ruling NPP coalition, of striving to create a one-party rule.

The warring political leaders have said they hold the judiciary in high esteem, and their protests are against the NPP government and the CID, which, they say, is all out to silence democratic dissent at the behest of its political masters. Among those who have rallied around Wickremesinghe are some of his sworn political enemies. They have rightly condemned the politicisation of the police and selective enforcement, but one cannot endorse the timing of yesterday’s protest. The deplorable practice of political parties and other organisations holding demonstrations while cases pertaining to issues that affect their interests are being heard, should be discontinued, for such events, silent or otherwise, are tantamount to efforts to influence, if not intimidate, the judiciary.