SF however, has not so far made a public statement on the issue though he said that he would make a statement within forty eight hours of retirement. The whole country is waiting for it. In the meantime Ranil Wickremasinghe (RW) has made it known that SF’s candidature will be subject to the latter’s acceptance of his conditions and Vajira Abeywardana, a close confidante of RW, confirms this when he says that SF’s candidature is still under consideration.

Several people including retired senior security forces officials have requested SF, not to enter the fray, and sully his name, lose all the honour, respect and admiration he has earned as the commander who defeated the so called invincible terrorist outfit in less than three years - a feat that no other commander could perform. I join them to appeal to SF not to plunge into the cesspit of politics.

I trust that SF is not suffering from such acute amnesia as to forget how RW, Mangala, Kiriella, Ravi all among others, belittled all army victories, and ridiculed him saying that he was not good enough to command even the Salvation Army. Is he prepared to co-habit with such a lot, sacrifice his hard-earned good name, bail them out and in the end be discarded?

SF must bear in mind that though his name was mentioned nearly two months ago, the UNF and particularly RW, is still wavering and that there is no assurance that he will be nominated.