Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Sir, I should not be disturbed. I am very glad that there are certain Members of Parliament who were doctors in hospitals. So, the people of the North have decided to make him an MP, which is very good, because if he continued as a doctor, it would have been disastrous for the patients. Anyway, in that sense, we thank the people of the North for sending him here as a Member of Parliament. The only thing is we have to put up with his nonsense. That is all.

¶ 02 Today, Sir, I heard the speakers; I heard you all with my ears, my mind and with my heart. I would like to say that I would not paint all the MPs representing Northern Province with the same brush. You all spoke the truth; you raised the concerns, but I cannot help but say that some of the narratives are too outdated. And all the speeches put together, the narrative was simple: this Sinhala Government is racist and they are not helping the Tamil cause. Now, that narrative is false. It would have been very true with the previous Governments, but not the NPP because we are all inclusive. We believe that nobody's human rights should be discriminated against on the basis of their gender, race, class, religion, disability or age. We want to have an inclusive society and we have extended the hand of friendship to the North a long time ago. The Northern people also extended their hand of friendship to us on the 14th of November last year and we will not let that hand go.

¶ 03 Some MPs exercise their vocal cords not to speak words, but to spit racial hatred and venom. I think it was correct when the Hon. Bimal Rathnayake said that some politicians of the North, not all of them, are more fearful of peace, love, brotherhood and comradeship with the South than they feared the war, because their racial and divisive politics are coming to an end. They cannot feed on hatred. So, I am telling them, “Please change your script; please change your narrative.”

¶ 04 Even the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who visited this country for merely a few days saw the progress we have made. But, your version is simple: “They do not do anything.” I say, yes, there is a lot to be done; yes, we have not yet been able to solve all the problems affecting the people living in the North, the East and even in the South, but we have made progress, we have started delivering. So, if you do not praise us, at least, give us the credit.

¶ 05 Sir, in page 3, the OHCHR Report states, I quote: “Since formation of the Government, OHCHR has observed a noticeable shift in discourse among Government actors toward a more inclusive vision of national identity, although this has not yet resulted in concrete deliverables.”

¶ 06 True. How can there be concrete deliverables? We have only governed for nearly one year now and we have four years left. We will deliver on all the promises we have made to the people in the North and the South.

¶ 07 Sir, there is a Vedic saying in Atharva Veda that states, “War begins in the minds of men”, which simply means that conflict originates from human thoughts and attitudes before being manifested physically. That same line, they use in the Preamble of the UNESCO Constitution. So, if war starts in the minds of men, or rather the people, then peace also must be built in their hearts and minds, not on law books. And, the National People’s Power has embarked on that difficult and challenging journey. There will be no war, no conflict ever based on racist politics, never in this country again.

¶ 08 Also, Sir, if I may say so, we have made progress. However, I am going to ask a few questions from the Hon. Members who said that we have not made any progress. With regard to the Prevention of Terrorism Act — the PTA — they used their vocal cords to the highest extent and said, “Oh, this Government is not doing anything under the PTA!” Come on, unless you were dead since February, 2025, you know that we appointed a Committee headed by President’s Counsel Mr. Rienzie Arsecularatne to look into the repealing of the PTA. They met 14 times. Today is the last day they met and now, that draft Report is ready for public consultations and to be presented to the Cabinet by September. So, we have done that. Therefore, why are people still saying these things even today?