Ex-soldiers join anti-govt protests in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO • Missing both legs and an arm, former special forces soldier Thushara Kumara is an unlikely critic of Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a wartime defence chief who became Sri Lanka's President in 2019.

But the 43-year-old army pensioner is one of several dozen war veterans now camping out at a protest site near the president's office in Colombo, having lost faith in a leader who stubbornly resisted calls to resign when the economy began to implode and most of his Cabinet quit.

"We dedicated our lives to save this country and it is extremely sad to see what has happened to it now," said Mr Kumara as he sat surrounded by old comrades, several with prosthetic limbs.

Weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka's economy was fast-tracked towards disaster by a surge in global oil prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February. Government finances were already in a perilous state, partly owing to populist policies, including tax cuts.

Rapidly dwindling foreign currency reserves left the Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million people without enough dollars to pay for vital imports of fuel, food and medicine, and sometimes violent street demonstrations erupted this month as shortages and power cuts became acute.

"I get a pension because of the taxpayers of this country, and we have a responsibility to step up now and support the brave efforts by these young people to save this country," said Mr Kumara, who served in the army for 16 years, and has three children. "They are fighting for this country's future. That is why we are here."

He lost his limbs in a mortar explosion weeks before Sri Lanka's bloody 26-year war against Tamil separatists ended in May 2009.

Mr Rajapaksa and his brother, Mahinda, who was president then, ordered the attack that finally broke the rebels' resistance, but thousands of people died in the onslaught.

At the small but growing protest camp by Colombo's waterfront, there were people of all ages and faiths, including Muslims breaking their Ramadan fast, saffron-clad Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns wearing habits.

Although there were only a few dozen army veterans, their presence indicated that the discontent had reached even Mr Rajapaksa's most ardent supporters.

Defence Ministry spokesman, Colonel Nalin Herath, declined to comment on the involvement of veterans in the protests.

The veterans, some of whom have travelled hundreds of kilometres from their homes to the capital, sleep on thinly padded mats by the busy seafront road, taking turns to use public washrooms located further down the scenic stretch of beach.

"We are used to hardship. So, we aren't too worried about meals," Mr Uditha Roshan, 40, said, sipping ginger tea provided by volunteers as passers-by stop to take selfies with the men, most of whom are amputees.

Many of the veterans said they would not vote for Mr Rajapaksa again, having backed him in 2019 when he campaigned hard on national security issues in an election that came months after the Easter Sunday bomb attacks by Islamist militants rocked the nation.

"He will not get the chance to be a presidential candidate again," said Mr H.M.S. Mahindasiri, 40, a double amputee who voted for Mr Rajapaksa three years ago.

"The people have no faith in him."

REUTERS