The NPP maintains that the Gampaha District Court has ruled in its favour and ordered that the premises be handed over to it
The Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) yesterday (02) accused the ruling JVP-led NPP of storming and seizing its Yakkala office at Salmal Uyana, Kirindiwela Road, Yakkala in the Gampaha District.
FSP Education Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda told a media briefing that a group of “government-backed thugs” had forcibly entered the premises, around 6 am, assaulted party members, and thrown them out before taking control of the office. Six of its members were injured in the incident and hospitalised.
“This office has been our political and union base since 2011. We have all the documents to prove our continuous occupation for over 13 years,” Jayagoda said. “The NPP now behaves as if it is above the law.”
Jagoda charged that senior government figures, including Public Security Minister Ananda Wijayapala and regional deputy ministers, had used state power and police backing to secure the premises for the NPP. “The President keeps boasting of having restored the rule of law, but this shows the opposite,” he alleged.
Police have since cordoned off the office, with officers from several stations deployed in the area. The FSP said it had lodged a formal complaint.
Former presidential candidate Duminda Nagamuwa also blamed the attack on “government-sponsored thugs,” adding that the FSP was prepared to comply with any lawful court order regarding ownership. “If the court directs us through the Fiscal Officer to vacate, we will obey. But the NPP is neither the court nor the Fiscal Officer,” he stressed.
The NPP maintained that the Gampaha District Court had already ruled in its favour and ordered that the premises be handed over to it.
Meanwhile, FSP Central Committee member Sujith Kuruwita condemned the takeover as a “shameful act by the government,” noting that the office had served as the party’s Gampaha District headquarters for more than a decade.
Nagamuwa also charged that the JVP-led NPP had failed to reclaim properties once seized by the UNP, such as the land where Sirikotha stands, but was “using state machinery to suppress the FSP instead.” (SI)