New regulation to block arms deals by Lankans

Basil in maiden speech:

Uditha Kumarasinghe, Rajmi Manatunga and Irangika Range

New MP Basil Rajapaksa yesterday told Parliament that the Government has gazetted a special provision under Emergency regulations to prevent any Sri Lankan from entering into arms deal here or abroad.

Rajapaksa delivering his maiden speech at the Emergency debate said the Government is going to give effect to this regulation by converting it into a law. According to this law, no Sri Lankan will be able to engage in any arms deals here or abroad in future. The new regulation has also given a list of all the items of weapons which are imported to Sri Lanka.

Under the Emergency, a new regulation has been promulgated to prevent any Sri Lankan citizen or a company from acting as a middleman to supply weapons. The regulation has also provisions to take legal actions against such people, he said. He said trade union action in the country has dropped drastically. In 2002, there were 12,239 industrial disputes reported while in 2003 the number of industrial disputes stood at 12,034.

According to Rajapaksa, the number of industrial disputes dropped to 9,024 in 2004 while this number has been reduced to 3,105 in 2005. The number of industrial disputes reported in 2006 was 3,470.

He said during this year, only 14 trade union actions were witnessed (from January to October). This clearly indicates the number of man-hours lost had been drastically reduced.

"Therefore, I extend my gratitude to country's working class on behalf of the Government."

Rajapaksa said the Defence Ministry has also been able to maintain a proper financial management and utilised local and foreign expertise towards the ongoing military operations.