Sri Lankan soldiers harass ex-president's grandson

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2007, 16:36 GMT]
Ex-Sri Lankan president and late UNP stalwart J. R. Jayawardene's grandson, Amirith Jayawardene, was chased and harassed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Friday night in Colombo for having attempted to overtake a SLA Jeep.

The incident took place at Punchi Borella in Maradana, 2 km southeast of Colombo city, around 7:00 p.m.

Amirith was driving his car at the time of the incident.

The army jeep obstructed him and the soldiers verbally abused him and tried to remove the car keys as Amirith rushed from the scene and entered his resident "Bermer" at Ward Place Colombo 7.

A while later, 3 SLA Jeeps, with covered number plates arrived at his residence and attempted to enter the premises by force, but were blocked by ministerial security guards at the main entrance.

Sri Lanka's Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, informed by Jayawardene family members, arrived at former President's house with fellow UNP members.

Amirith is the second son of J.R Jayawardene's only son Ravi Jayawardene, who established the Sri Lankan elite counter-insurgency commando unit, the Special Task Force (STF).