The government has succumbed to public pressure, including that exerted by religious leaders and permitted General Sarath Fonseka to remain at his former official residence, UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardena said yesterday.

He told a news conference in Colombo that the government, perturbed by Fonseka’s decision to oppose President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had tried to boot him out of the house he had occupied as Chief of Defence Staff, but failed in its mission due to the enormous support that Fonseka has in the country.

"General Fonseka’s security was reduced and thereafter he was asked to leave his place of residence, but due to the intervention of religious leaders, including the Mahanayake Theras, the Rajapaksa administration was forced to back track," he said. "Now they are talking as if they never wanted the General out and denying what they attempted to achieve."

General Fonseka was a person who led from the front to end a 30 year-old war and it was a shame that he was being treated so shabbily, purely because he resisted being kicked around by the Rajapaksa brothers, Jayawardena said.

The ‘Mahinda Chintana,’ he said, pledged to increase the pensions of soldiers to be on par with the retired public servants, but four years on, it is yet to be implemented just like so many other promises. "According to General Fonseka, 5,000 soldiers had died in the last ten days of battle against the LTTE. The pensions of armed forces personnel, should be increased without any further delay."

The government claims to have resettled nearly half of the 300,000 northern IDPs in their original homes. But according to information filtering in, most of them are now housed in schools and churches. Opposition parliamentarians should also be permitted to visit the IDP’s in their new locations, to ascertain their welfare and help them in which ever way possible, Jayawardena said.

The longest serving Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, was also the Chairman of the WHO Executive Committee, but the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation imports sub standard medicines, including life saving drugs.

The discovery of a rubber band in an injection vial in Anuradhapura, raises the question if a Good Medical Practice Certificate had been obtained and a Post Marketing Surveillance done before the import order was placed? The low quality imports included Hydrocortisone injections, Pethidine pain killers, saline and Fenagon, Jayawardena said.