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# Government Will Not Free Gnanasara Thera Against Court Ruling, Lal Kantha Says
- URL: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/government-will-not-free-gnanasara-thera-against-court-ruling-lal-kantha-says/
- Published: 2026-10-18T01:28:03.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-18T01:28:03.000Z
- Author: Asela Kuruluwansha.
- Tags: October  2026

*By Asela Kuruluwansha*

Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation Minister K. D. Lal Kantha said neither President Anura Kumara Dissanayake nor the government has the power to release Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, rejecting the central demand of Buddhist monks who marched from Kandy to Colombo last week to seek the imprisoned monk’s freedom.

The government would not take such a step under any circumstances, the minister said, because going against a court ruling would betray the mandate voters had given it.

Speaking to reporters after an event at the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Lal Kantha said the government led by President Dissanayake makes its decisions on the basis of that mandate. Those taking part in the protest, he said, should understand that the government cannot act against a mandate it received to establish the rule of law.

That mandate, he said, rests on the principle that the law must apply equally to everyone, and the country is now being steered in that direction.

The march, organised by Buddhist clergy, began near the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy on 10 October under the theme “Justice for the Robe – National Pledge Offering and Freedom March”. It passed through Kadugannawa, Kegalle, Warakapola and Nittambuwa before reaching the vicinity of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on 15 October, where representatives of the clergy met Presidential Secretary Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.

At that meeting, the monks asked that an alleged technical flaw in the presidential pardon granted to Gnanasara Thera by former President Maithripala Sirisena be rectified, and sought a timeline for the process, saying they understood the Presidential Secretary had already discussed the matter with the President. Gnanasara Thera, general secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena, is currently in prison after the Court of Appeal ordered enforcement of the remainder of his sentence. Separate petitions concerning his derobing have been fixed for 22 October.

Mr. Lal Kantha said people who stage marches, demonstrations and protests should put demands to the government that it is able to meet. He said he believed the marchers would come to accept that their demand was not one the government could fulfill.