This is an urgent plea to all our friends

By Sarath Fonseka

(January 18, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) We have been informed that our opponents have provided guns to their supporters to intimidate voters and rig the ballot boxes on January 26, 2010. We will never lower ourselves to such violent and malicious tactics.

We do, however, urge our supporters to do the following to ensure that their vote is secure.

* Please contact your religious leaders - Buddhist, Catholic, Christian, Hindu and Muslim and appeal to them to be part of the citizens movement at each polling booth. Get the religious leaders in your area to be at the front lines to help conduct a free and fair election and safeguard the ballot boxes and voters.

We will certainly provide security, but under no circumstances will we carry weapons to intimidate and circumvent the democratic process. We believe in the power of people - and we believe we don't need violence to win the election.

* Please also contact the media and law enforcement if there are any attempts to rob you of your precious democratic vote.

* Capture these incidents on your mobile phones, take pictures and bring these culprits to light who are planning to rob your vote.

The more people are aware of these abusive methods, the less their chance of success.

We need your help and we need it now.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you seek in your world". Please help us stop election violence.