UNP condemns Udayan attack

Rashomi Silva

COLOMBO: The United National Party (UNP) yesterday voiced its concern over the attack on the Udayan office in Jaffna and condemned the attack as a grave violation of democratic norms.

Party Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya addressing the media in Colombo yesterday called the phenomenon a dangerous one and appealed to the Government to take speedy steps to remedy the situation.

He said his party respects freedom of expression. "We may not agree with what some has to say, but as a democratic nation it is the responsibility of the Government to protect media freedom," he said. He also questioned about the increasing number of corpses appearing in different parts of the country, apparently a work of an unidentified group. The Government should strengthen law and order.

"In the recent past we saw an escalation of underworld activities. Killings, robberies, and many other illegal activities are heard of very often. This indicates a dangerous failure in the maintenance of law and order," the Deputy Leader pointed out.

"Attacks on newspaper offices and extra-judicial killings, with no steps taken to correct the situation can tarnish a country's image," Jayasuriya said.

He said it was the responsibility of the Government to provide security to every citizen as the people were living in fear of a return to conflict. The UNP also questioned the President's move of making two appointments to the Independent Police Commission and Independent Public Service Commission.

He said the UNP got the support of all political parties in Parliament to introduce the new amendment on Independent Commission.

"We wanted to minimise politicization", he said.