The speech given by Hon Sarath Weerasekera in Parliament on 3rd Dec

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Mr. Speaker, In this Committee Stage of the Defence Budget let me first start by responding to some statements made by certain individuals, i.e, Hon Sumandiram,the British Prime Minister David Camaroon, Hon Sambandan etc..
Hon Sumandiran , referring to the treacherous statement made by TNA MP Sreedharan, who said’ that Prabakaran was a hero, a freedom fighter and should be commemorated’, said in this Parliament that the people in a country which claimed to be civilized should have the freedom to commemorate the dead. He tried to insult my country through that sarcastic comment.

First of all I must say that Hon Sumandiran and other Members of TNA are now sitting in the Parliament and enjoying all the facilities and privileges because we are a civilized nation. We all know that TNA was the proxy, the political wing of the LTTE which we comprehensively defeated . In the world in similar circumstances, the corresponding political party also vanished. When Hitler was defeated in Germany, his Nazi political party was eliminated. In Cambodia, when Pol Pot was killed, his political party was also destroyed. When Sadam Hussain was killed the Bath political party evaporated. When Mubarak was taken out of power, his political party was proscribed. But in my country, after we crushed the Tigers, we allowed you to survive and continue your politics, because we are a civilized nation; because our President is kind hearted and please don’t take that kindness as assign of weakness.

Nations commemorate lives of civilized individuals for their contribution towards the upliftment, advancement of the mankind,/society. Prabakaran, the killer, committed the most heinous andevery possible crime against the mankind unprecedented in modern times. Mr. Speaker, in Terrorism there is no middle man, either you are a terrorist or not. -So only a terrorist can lobby or suggest to commemorate another dead terrorist.

Hon Sumandiran also said that they the TNA will not participate in the Parliament Select Committee because there is no majority for them there. I must tell Hon Sumanthiran that we have invited them at least for that, because we are civilized. In actual fact, we shouldn’t have. Because, as I said, TNA was the proxy of LTTE and we defeated it and after defeating the Tigers, if we are going to have discussions with the TNA, it is like Sir Winston Churchill talking to the Nazis after the Second World War! It never happened so you be happy that at least you are invited to the Select Committee. You are giving lame excuses because you know very well that you will be thrashed out, as there, it is face to face talks and you won’t be able to prove any of your bogus theories.

I also must make a few comments on Hon. David Camaroon. When he landed here, he was accorded the same welcome/reception/respect as for the other Heads of States. But, he completely ignored it and his response to it was very rude. In here, he did not participate in any of the discussions of the CHOGM, but went to Jaffna and played cricket. He held a press conference here and allowed only the foreign journalists to ask questions and did not allow any of the local media. He flouted the freedom of speech of our media men and had the audacity to go to UK and tell about the absence of media freedom in my country.
On the other hand Prince Charles who came here, conducted himself in a very regal manner, very charm, gentle, always smiling, a real Officer and a Gentleman . He was in the Royal Navy and I am really proud, because I was also in the Sri Lanka Navy for 35 years! Hon Camaroon failed to behave like that, it shows his upbringing and we can imagine how he was brought up and get a hint of the quality of the school he attended.

 

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Mr. Camaroon should have known that when he visited here, he never came as David or Camaroon, but as the Prime Minister of Britain who represented the British people and the British government, the country which created the Commonwealth. He should have acted and said things to further the objectives/aims of the Common Wealth, but instead, he was catering for the parochial interests of his constituents back home. That was very unbecoming of a Prime Minister and in the process, he disgraced the British nation in general and Her Majesty the Queen in particular.

Mr. Camaroon says he wants a special investigation in to the human rights violations in our country during the war. I don’t think he has any moral right to say so. He should be reminded about the blatant human right violations they did, when we were under subjugation, 150 years ago. The British couldn’t defeat us and we the Sinhalese, defeated them comprehensively, in different locations as we were experts in Guerilla warfare. Then, they started to hit at our economy , they destroyed all our paddy fields, destroyed our tanks, destroyed our canals, our cattle and killed all the men aged between 18 to 35!! So Camaroon whose ancestors have done that much, has no moral right to talk about the human right violations in my country and in actual fact, we can demand reparations, if not an apology from them. Also Mr. Camaroon should be aware that our country, which is predominantly Buddhist, for the past thousands of years, have protected not only the rights of Humans but also the rights of animals and birds as well.

Mr. Speaker , the war that we fought was a war against terrorism. Although terrorism is not yet defined in the UN for reasons unknown, in layman’s terms it is killing/massacring of innocents to achieve a political aim. So whether the cause for terrorism is justifiable or not terrorism cannot be justified. And terrorism is no more local or regional, it is global and transnational. ‘ My terrorist today can be Camaroon’s terrorist tomorrow’. Therefore, there has to be a concise and concerted effort on the part of the International community to address this menace. But, when we addressed and crushed it , instead of congratulating us, they try to find fault with us, with false allegations just for a handful of votes lying with the Tamil Diaspora.

Mr. Speaker , I don’t think there is any other army in the world who sacrificed their lives to protect the civilians, like our Army. More than 28,000 soldiers have died in the battle field and 25% of them would have been still living, if our valiant soldiers, both men and women were not concerned about civilian casualties. That was because we have a President, whose heart is filled with compassion and that was because we have a Defense Secretary, a kind hearted, benevolent war veteran.

It is true, a large amount of money is allocated for Defense. I think it is necessary to maintain peace. Mr. Jefferson, the US President has once said that “the price for liberty is eternal vigilance” So our military should keep vigil all the time. Navy is our first line of defense and it has to be strengthened. We must buy surveillance ships, acquire sophisticated radars, multi sensor integrated systems, etc. Ours is the only navy in the world which faced suicide boats at sea, fought and won. Others navies can come here and learn from our Naval officers, how to fight suicide squads, the tactics we used, the strategies/formations we adopted .

Also Mr. Speaker, in the process, we lost so many navy men at sea and also lost many ships and crafts. You will be surprised that at the last stages of war we apprehended the entire family of Susei, the Sea Tiger Leader, in a dark night at sea. Susei was responsible for making hundreds of our naval wives widows and destruction of large number of naval craft. Only the Commander, the Secretary Defense and the President knew it. We could have easily destroyed them, but now they are among the Sinhalese living happily. That’s how we protected the human rights of Tamil civilians, even if they were close relatives of tiger leaders and that’s why we don’t take it seriously when Camaroons or Mangala Samaraweeras talk about human right violations, during war because we have acted according to our consciousness.

The TNA wants army to withdraw from Jaffna. In Jaffna Mr. Speaker , there are 2 groups now. Those ex Tigers who were rehabilitated and released to the society, those who were sympathetic to LTTE and those were harassed / whose loved ones were taxed or axed by Terrorists. They are angry with each other. When we look back in history after the US civil war in 1865 the Union Army remained in the South for 13 years and after13 years when they left there were mayhem, massacres . Same thing can happen in Jaffna and TNA must think about it seriously as the majority in Jaffna think their lives are safe with army presence.

 

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