PARLIAMENT
Fishermen held hostage by Somali pirates:
Govt trying to secure release through mediation - Fisheries minister
Sandasen MARASINGHE and Irangika RANGE
Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa presided, when Parliament met at 1 pm
yesterday.
After the presentation of papers and oral questions, Parliament was
adjourned until 1 pm today.
Later on, the House took up the Adjournment motion moved by UNP
Parliamentarian Ajith P Perera.
Ajith P Perera (UNP):-
Sri Lanka’s Economy depended on the European economy at times. But
when the European economy faced a crisis, we are unable to depend on
them. We have to adopt strategic economic policies. The economy of Sri
Lanka could face a crisis due to wrong economic policies.
The disparity in 2011 between Export and Import has been vast. The
government was not enthusiastic to find a solutions for it.
Disparity between export and import has been vast
Dr Harsha de Silva (UNP):-
MP Ajith P Perera was speaking of issues created by the Orders under
the Import Export Control Act.
We are aware that the government had imported food items worth US$ 2
billion last year. The government had imported machines valued at US$
1.9 billion. So how could we say that we have imported items needed for
development? We have earned US$ 9,581 million through exports last year,
while our import expenditure had been US $ 18,417 million.
Deputy Chairman of Committees Murugesu Chandrakumar takes the chair
Health Deputy Minister Lalith Dissanayake
The Opposition is unable to bring an adjournment motion properly.
They brought one motion, but speaks on another topic.
The opposition speaks of import, but they do not speak of facts. Our
government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has self-sustained the
country with rice.
The government has imported mostly flour, milk powder and sugar. The
people in the estate sector consume flour. So does the opposition want
to starve them and their children?
The opposition criticizes this government on every matter, but the
government has reduced the debt burden of the country.
But in the meantime, the government has initiated many development
projects. Ports have been constructed, airports are being constructed.
Roads are being developed.
Fisheries Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne, told Parliament yesterday,
that the government was trying to secure the release of Sri Lankan
fishermen held hostage by Somali pirates through mediation via third
parties.
Securing the release of six Lankan fishermen under the custody of
Somali pirates could never be done through diplomatic channels.
He said that the pirates were not answerable in complying with the
diplomatic processes and that they were not a legal entity and therefore
the government had to rely on unorthodox options for their release.
Replying to a special statement made by DNA MP Anura Kumara
Dissanayake, the minister said that there had been no details or
information of the fishermen abducted by the pirates expect, for what
the pirates themselves have provided to the government.
There had been several other abductions and the pirates had later
released them without demanding any ransom. In January last year, the
Somali pirates had killed two Lankan fishermen while taking another
three hostage after their vessel had been lost in the Indian
Ocean. Those fishermen had been rescued through a Somali intermediary
and this time too, the same procedure would be followed. Discussions are
being conducted through an intermediary for the release of the fishermen
and their vessel held captive by the pirates.
Making a special statement, DNA MP Dissanayake demanded to know what
action the government could take through diplomatic channels to sort out
this problem. The fishermen W. Shantha Sebastian of Katana,
S.K.Weerasena Silva of Kalutara South, S. Dinesh Susantha Fernando of
Madurankuliya, W. J. Leon Rodrigo of Negombo North, P. Selvarajan of
Negombo Pitipana and D. Jude Nihal Fernando of Negombo North, had left
the country on September 27, where they had been abducted by the Somali
pirates.
There had been reports that the pirates were demanding a ransom which
was not possible for their family members to raise, the MP said, calling
upon the government to intervene on their behalf and make use of the
proper diplomatic channels to secure their release.
Govt has no income generating policy
Sunil Hadunnetti (DNA): The government has no proper economic policy.
That is why the country is day by day heading to a crisis.
All citizens of Sri Lanka have to finally shoulder all these burdens.
What has been the measures taken by the government to free the people
from all these burdens?
Today, the whole world faces a massive economic crisis. We too would
have to face all these crises in the near future.
What is the economic method that the government expects to follow to
escape from the world economic crisis?
The government has also no proper policy to increase income
generating avenues. But it spends massive sums of money unnecessarily
for the benefit of its members.
Mathata Thitha in focus
Akila Viraj Kariyawasam (UNP):
The government has no proper export import policy. Though the
government implements such projects as “Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu” with a
view to increase local productivity, the country still has to depend on
imports.
Instead of increasing local productions, the production of liquor has
gone up by 10,000 litres. It shows the failure of the “Mathata Thitha”
programme.
There has been no law and order prevailing in this country. A number
of cases pertaining to human rights violations, threats to journalists,
abductions and killings have increased.
Govt. has maintained proper export import policy
Vasudeva Nanayakkara (UPFA): The government has maintained a proper
export and import policy. We have imposed restrictions for preventing
the importing of unessential items to the country. The government has
observed that several business ventures run by the private sector owned
lands had not been managed properly.
That was why the government had decided to acquire them.
We must regulate all these ventures for the betterment of the
country. We are of the policy for controlling unessential imports for
the betterment of local productivity.
Social Services Minister Felix Perera: The government has imposed
taxes on regular basis on imports with the aim of protecting local
producers. During the war, the LTTE had imposed various taxes and
collected money from innocent people and businessmen in the North and
East. These incidents have not been witnessed in the North and East
after the defeat of the LTTE. We must explore more possibilities to
create more income generating avenues to earn foreign exchange to the
country.
Anoma Gamage (UNP): It was wrong for the government to take over the Hingurana Sugar factory, as it had been running successfully. We have
always paid reasonable prices to sugarcane farmers, without undue delay.
They had been dealing with us happily. This is unjust.
Jayantha Ketagoda (DNA): The government had taken over a number of
business ventures run by the private sector by force. I would like to
ask the government on what basis these companies have been forcibly
taken over.
According to global surveys, our economy had been stable
International Monetary Co-operation Senior Minister Dr. Sarath
Amunugama: Moving the adjournment motion, said that the Opposition had
stated that our economy could face a severe crisis as the economy in
Europe was facing a recess.
The Opposition said that the economic recess in Europe would affect
our exports, while intern, affects our economy.
But we have to acknowledge that our economic policies have been
perfect, while global surveys had said the economy of Sri Lanka was
stable.
Gayantha Karunathilake takes the Chair.
The American Banking system had been concerned over not being able to
maintain their banks properly in the face of the global economic recess.
Accordingly, the European Banking systems was also threatened.
My idea had been that the Opposition would talk more positively about
the economy of America and Europe, as the Opposition held those
economies in high esteem. Now it seems that the economies in America and
Europe were rejuvenating due to their corrective measures. So I wish to
inform MP Ajith Perera, that the Opposition does not need to be afraid
of our economy falling.
India has not been able to maintain their garment industry, but we
have been able to face those challenges. The Government of Qatar was
taking measures to construct 3 hotels in Kalpitiya.
They are to construct a convention centre in Kalpitiya. They have
also made attempts to construct an expressway to Kalpitiya. These
countries have invested in Sri Lanka, due to their confidence in our
economy.
The rating agencies have praised the American and European economies.
American President Obama had questioned the rating agencies as to why
America had been given low ratings. The European economy has gone down
to negative territory in ratings.
But we are in B plus, as it had been a success. The IMF had also
appreciated our economy.
Now our country was no more a poor country. Our country is stable. We
accept that we have challenges before us. We are looking for solutions
to such problems.
One such challenge has been petroleum. Not only Sri Lanka, but the
entire world was facing this challenge. But most of other countries were
facing another serious problem, apart from the petroleum issue.
That is the food crisis. India and almost all countries in Africa,
face this problem. But we were not facing such a problem.
We understand that there had been such a period in Sri Lanka too.
There was an era when political parties had given priority to rice in
their election manifestos. But that scenario has changed. We are
self-sufficient in rice.
We spend heavily on the import of milk powder and sugar.
But those who import milk powder had been close friends of the
Opposition.
The Opposition maintains double standards on the import of flour and
milk powder. When we attempted to restrict the imports of flour to
encourage local production, the Opposition made it a means to get petty
political gains. But our government had been only attempting to develop
the economy, while listening to the voices of the people and catering to
their needs.
We agree that we have to encourage export to develop our economy. We
have to open avenues for our industries to reach markets in other
countries. We have encouraged such industries. For example ‘Damro’ has
opened 64 centres only in India.
Aitken Spence and Hettigoda have also done the same. Our banks have
been receiving better ratings when massive banks overseas face many
problems.
All these facts show how credible our economy was, though the
Opposition does not show any credibility towards them.
I have to clearly state that the Opposition was not credible. On the
other hand, this Opposition was not an alternative to this country and
it has been proved during all the elections and at many other incidents.
Govt should maintain a proper economic policy
Eran Wickramaratne (UNP): We have selected the leader of the UNP by
election. Not only that, we have also selected a deputy leader of the
UNP by an election. We agree that there was an economic crisis in
Europe, but our concern is that if we could not export our products to
those countries, people in our country would be affected. We are not
aware of the government making any attempts to solve these problems.
This government should have a proper economic policy.
Govt has undertaken a massive development drive
J R P Sooriyapperuma (UPFA): The year 2012, has been a significant
year to us. Today we see people protesting against capitalism.
Today Sri Lanka's population was 25 million. Nearly 4.5 million of
children out the population are schooling. This has been a very
significant achievement as a result of our free education policy.
The government today has undertaken a massive development drive. We
intend to build a new Sri Lanka. We have launched a revolution for the
21st century, where we would further carry it out.
J R P Suriyapperuma takes the Chair.
Finance and Planning Deputy Minister Geethanjana Gunawardene: We are
debating today the gazette notification issued by the government.
Various ideas have been expressed by the members of both sides of the
well. Today the people in Oyamadu in Anuradhapura, reap the benefits of
the massive development created in the area due to the Deyata Kirula
exhibition. Through this development, a network of roads, facilities for
hospitals and schools have improved. Our aim has been to divide the
benefits of economic growth among the all citizens of Sri Lanka. We have
already registered an 8 percent economic growth, which was evidence for
what we had done in the past. |