Two bodyguards assigned
SJB MP Jagath Vithana yesterday (26) said that the NPP government should conduct an overall security review without further delay. The Kalutara District lawmaker said so after police headquarters assigned two personnel for him following information as regards a possible attempt to assassinate him.
Responding to The Island queries, the Opposition member said that IGP Priyantha Weerasooriya himself had been aware of the possible attempt for about a month, although he was not alerted. “I got to know about the alleged plot after making inquiries regarding police officers visiting his home four days ago to inquire whether he had bodyguards and weapons. Police Headquarters owed an explanation regarding its failure to brief me of the alleged attempt,” MP Vithana said.
Following the change of government last year the new government decided against providing security to parliamentarians.
Referring to statements that had been attributed to Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala, regarding the IGP being directed to inquire into alleged death threats on him, MP Vithana pointed out that the issue at hand is the failure on the part of the police to pass on to him the information available to them.
Vithana said that the government appeared to have panicked following the assassination of Weligama Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Lasantha Wickremesekara (SJB) in his office on 22 October. According to him, the police visited his home last Friday (24), while he was in Parliament, where he first revealed the alleged plot after receiving a call from his wife. “The police arrived at my Kalutara home in a three-wheeler,” MP Vithana said.
Vithana said that the NPP government had sought to convince the public that the MPs didn’t require special security.
Soon after the new government took office, instructions were also issued to those permitted to own firearms to hand them over to law enforcement authorities, MP Vithana said. Now that campaign has boomeranged on the government, the former UNPer urge the government to take tangible measures to bring the situation under control.
According to police statistics, 51 lives have been lost so far this year due to 100 shooting incidents. Lasantha Wickremasekera had been the 51st victim. The number of wounded persons has been placed at 56.
MP Vithana pointed out that the police couldn’t wash their hands off the Weligama killing as the victim had sought immediate protection after having named those who posed a threat to his life. How could police deny an elected people’s representative security on the basis there were court cases against him? MP Vithana asked.
By Shamindra Ferdinando 