Sri Lanka ex-leader's son held over anti-India protest

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Sri Lankan police arrested the legislator son of former president Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday for leading violent anti-India demonstrations over alleged plans to sell an airport, which was mostly funded by China and named after his father.

Police said Namal Rajapakse, a member of the Sri Lankan parliament, was arrested on Tuesday for leading an unlawful assembly outside the Indian consulate in the southern town of Hambantota on Friday.

Namal Rajapakse is seen inside a police van after his arrest on Tuesday in Hambantota. /Photo Twitter @RajapaksaNamal

Police superintendent Ruwan Gunasekera said Namal, the eldest son of Mahinda Rajapakse, had violated a court order banning street protests and damaged public property. "He was arrested along with two other members of parliament and three others," Gunasekera said.

Another 28 were arrested after the protest.

Video footage of the demonstration released on social media showed Namal Rajapakse chanting anti-India slogans at Hambantota, 240 kilometers south of capital Colombo, and leading a march towards the consulate.

Namal Rajapakse accused the government of trying to sell Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport to an Indian company at a rock bottom price.

Hundreds of protesters shout anti-India slogans as police stand guard outside the Indian consulate in the southern Sri Lankan town of Hambantota, Friday. /Photo www.dailymirror.lk

Protesters attempted to break through barricades of the Indian consulate but police fired teargas and water cannon to stop them reaching the compound. At least four policemen were injured when the demonstrators pelted stones.

The government has denied it was planning to sell off the international airport built at a cost of 210 million US dollars, much of it provided by the Chinese government via the Exim Bank of China. Sri Lankan authorities however have admitted that Indian companies had shown interest in a joint venture to make the facility commercially viable.

World's least used airport

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, the second largest in Sri Lanka, was the pet project of the senior Rajapakse, who was raised in Hambantota. Namal Rajapakse represents Hambantota district as a legislator in the national parliament.

Inaugurated in 2013, the airport has been routinely described as arguably the world's least used, servicing just one flight a day. It has been reported that the airport sees an average of seven people pass through its terminal a day.

Several airlines served the airport in the beginning, but the majority soon ended service. Air Arabia ended its flights from Sharjah only six weeks after beginning service, citing low demand.

March 18, 2013: During the inaugural landing at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport of a Sri Lankan airlines Airbus A-340 carrying then president Mahinda Rajapakse, in Mattala, Hambantota. /AFP Photo

SriLankan Airlines operated a hub at the airport until early 2015. In triangle routing through Colombo, the airline flew to Bangkok, Beijing, Chennai, Jeddah, Male, Riyadh, Shanghai, and Tiruchirappalli from Hambantota. The hub was closed on January 17, 2015, it was accruing great losses on the routes.

Mihin Lanka flew from Hambantotato Gaya (India) and Medan (Indonesia) but the debt-ridden budget airline ceased operations from October 30, 2016. As of today, Flydubai is the only international airline that operates flights to Hambantota.

It is one of the several state-owned white elephants that were built under the former president and have never turned a profit.

The airport was supposed to be part of a larger infrastructure plan to turn the sleepy district into a modern city and tourist attraction. But by most accounts, it remained an unfulfilled dream of the former president, whose government was toppled in January 2015 elections.

The new government offered to sell the airport after sealing a 1.2-billion-US-dollar deal with a Chinese state-owned company last July to take over a majority stake in a deep sea port in Hambantota. The 99-year lease deal allows China’s state-owned China Merchants Port to operate the newly constructed port.

The Hambantota port deal was also preceded by protests and demonstrations, which had delayed the official signing.

(With input from agencies)