Emergency for national security

Last day of sixth Parliament:

Irangika Range and Sandasen Marasinghe

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka said yesterday that the Emergency Regulations are of prime importance since as all are aware certain elements are depending on violence and feeding terrorism adding that foreign intelligence had warned that the octopus of terrorism was spreading its tentacles over the Asian region including Sri Lanka.

He was addressing Parliament after presenting the motion to extend the Emergency by another one month.

He said it was the desire of all governments to wish on the last day of Parliament that there will be no more Emergency debates. He also said the Government was considering repealing certain provisions of the Emergency Regulations in a way that would not affect National Security.

The Premier stated that the people enjoy peace today due to the Government’s victory over terrorism that was immensely supported by the Emergency Regulations.

The people in the North and East are leading peaceful lives.

The Government has been able to rehabilitate and send a large number of youth who had earlier taken up arms back to the society. Still the weapons are found and unearthed from areas such as Vellamulli Vaikkal and from the North. The Government can’t risk these weapons falling into the hands of certain groups.

He also refuted the allegations by the Opposition that the Government was misusing the Emergency Regulations and said the Government only used it to bring victory to the people of the country.