Ampara district SLPP MP D. Weerasinghe yesterday said that organised JVP supporters burnt his house on May 9.
He said that not a single member or supporter of SLFP, SJB nor any other Party planned to burn his house but the JVPers. He added that one JVP Pradeshiya Sabha contestant and another JVP organizer have been arrested by the Police in connection with the burning of his house.
He demanded a Special Parliamentry Select Committee be appointed to investigate into the tragic incident that brought death to nine including one Parliamentarian.
He also demanded to expedite the investigations into the incident. He also requested to grant compensation to the people whose houses and other properties that were destroyed by the protestors, including those of 80 Parliamentarians out of which 74 were of the government side. He said that the properties of a number of Pradeshiya Sabha and Provincial Council members were torched in the same incident.
He made these requests and observations commencing adjournment motion yesterday.
He expressed his condolence to the family members of the Polonnaruwa district MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala who was murdered that day.He added that the protesters were manipulated by a group of politicians that would not be able to gain power democratically. He added hence they attempted to kill and devastate the properties of MPs and threaten them to get power. He added if their attempt was not defeated at the outset, the others too would face in future the same fate that those victims faced on May 9.
He said that the JVP shot and killed his father when he was eight years and the JVP again burned everything he earned by engaging in chena cultivation and paddy cultivation, during his lifetime when his son’s age was eight years old. He added that his house was built even before he was elected to the Parliament and it was a small house of 650 square feet. He added that the ground floor was built in 2008 and then concrete slab was built in 2011. He added that when he was elected to the Parliament he took the Rs. 5 million loan entitled to the MPs and completed the rest. “Before one year lapsed, the JVP manipulated the people to burn my house while the loan is still to be settled,” said Weerasinghe. “I built it with haste as my mother told me to build a shelter before her death. Since that day my mother is in a shock that she cant speak. My children are asking for their school books burnt in the fire. Still they are crying in their dreams.”
He said that the culprits are being identified and they are mostly youngsters around 20. Those youth who do not know anything of the 71 riots by the JVP, 88/89 riots by the JVP have been misled by the JVP again. “The parents of those children are suffering much because of their activities,” Weerasinghe said.
He said that he came to know that the youth were coming to burn his house three hours before the incident. He added that 40 policemen had come near his house along with the OIC. When the villagers came to protect my house, the OIC had said that peace would be affected with their arrival. He also had instructed the two police officers deployed to protect my house to put their weapons into the boxes. “My question is as to why they kept silent until these JVP supporters burnt my house,” Weerasinghe queried. “They kept silent until they robbed my house. Even Police Officer Herath was there. None of them could write down one number of the over 50 vehicles that came there.”
Add new comment