Maximum penalty for peace violators - Defence Secretary
Govt will ensure security of everyone:
Law and order will be maintained:
Chaminda PERERA
The government yesterday stressed that it will deal firmly with
terrorist elements who were responsible for recent incidents in several
parts of the country. According to Defence Secretary Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa, the maximum punishment will be meted out to the criminals who
were involved in the murder of a policeman in Puttalam.
He said that the government is bound to ensure the security for each
and every person in the country and criminals who are involved in
certain incidents in several parts of the country would be brought to
book soon.
He said that the incident which took place at Puttalam claimed the
life of a police officer who had no connection with any incidents. He
said that the wrong doers in those incidents and in the following murder
of the police constable would be given the maximum punishment according
to the law.
He said that the government is ready to deploy the Police and the
Security Forces to nab the wrong-doers behind this incident. “This
police constable who was on traffic duty was beaten to death by them,”
he said.
The Defence Secretary was addressing the trustees of mosques in the
Batticaloa, Ampara, Trincomalee and Puttalam districts at the Defence
Ministry yesterday.
Defence Secretary Rajapaksa requested the public not to fall prey to
those who have resorted to various means to incite the people against
the law enforcement authorities to achieve what they want. .
The Defence Secretary added that the members of the public have all
the rights to make complaints to the senior officials of the Police if
they are not satisfied with the investigations that were carried out
over several incidents involving the grease monster.
“We will deploy the Security Forces if Police fail in bringing the
culprits to book,” he said.
He stressed that the public taking the law into their hands is not
the answer. The Defence Secretary said that a group of people have
surrounded military camps in the East following the incidents involving
the monsters. “Surrounding military camps by a group of people in the
night is a serious violation of the law. Persons involved in terrorist
activities might have got into this group of people and they would have
acquired weapons in the camps if they entered it,” he said. The Defence
Secretary stressed that the Sri Lankan Security Forces who eliminated
one of the most ruthless terrorist groups in the world can face any
challenge to maintain law and order. “The military exercised utmost
restraint in the face of provocations by this group of people,” he said.
He rejected rumours being spread by certain segments of society that
these incidents involving monsters are organized by the government.
The Defence Secretary said that rumours are spread that these
incidents are carried out with the knowledge of the government to extend
the Emergency. Rajapaksa said that the government does not require
neither the services of suspicious elements nor ‘monsters’ to get the
Emergency Regulations extended.
He said that the President took a decision to relax the Emergency
Regulations after considering the prevailing security situation in the
country. “It is neither the grease monsters nor foreign countries who
can take decisions with regard to the extension of Emergency
Regulations,” he said.
Rajapaksa said that the country is enjoying the dividends of peace
after a lapse of 30 years and the government does not want to disrupt
it. He also rejected rumours that members of the Security Forces are
involved in these incidents.
The Defence Secretary said that the members of the Security Forces
and the Police who made great sacrifices for the establishment of peace
in the country are breathing a sigh of relief with the dawning of peace
in the country. He said that these Security Forces personnel and the
Police do not want to disrupt this situation. Senior DIG Pujith
Jayasundera gave a full description of what actually happened in
Puttalam. Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshall Roshan Gunathillake,
Army Commander Lt. Gen Jagath Jayasuriya, Air Force Commander Air
Marshall Harsha Abeywickrema, Navy Commander Vice Admiral D.W.S.A.
Dissanayake and IGP N.K. Illangakoon and Defence Ministry officials
attended the meeting.
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