The Hon. K. Ilankumaran
Hon. K. Ilankumaran supported Hon. Kariapper’s motion on threats faced by deep-sea fishers, stating that armed gangs in fast boats steal their fish and nets during 12- to 20-day fishing trips. He said he and Hon. Kanthasamy Prabu had discussed the issue with the Minister, who had begun taking action, and urged the Government to identify, name, and prosecute the gangs with support from the Navy, STF, Police, and relevant Department. He also noted that the issue had been raised for many years and criticized attempts to disrupt the debate for personal publicity.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I welcome Hon. Kariapper’s motion. On 3rd of this month, together with Hon. Kanthasamy Prabu, we discussed this at length with the Minister. Deep-sea fishers spend 12–20 days at sea; armed gangs in fast boats threaten them and steal fish and nets. The Minister immediately initiated steps to halt this.
¶ 02 The government has a duty to act and to expose the names of these gangs and prosecute them; otherwise, a serious situation will arise. For 12 years Hon. Kariapper has raised this; during authoritarian times, people feared to question. Now they can. With Navy, STF, and Police support, the Department will identify and prosecute these gangs.
¶ 03 I also condemn attempts by a Jaffna politician to derail such important debates for personal social media gains instead of carrying constructive messages to the people. Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 5 June 2025 ·No. 1750828922068945 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. K. Ilankumaran. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 5 June 2025. No. 1750828922068945. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/21394