The Hon. Anura Karunathilaka - Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, we discuss here one of the most heinous events in our recent history. Beyond establishing responsibility, our duty is to ensure such barbarity does not recur—by strengthening social cohesion and national security.

¶ 02 Certain political groups cultivated fear about national security to gain power, first attempting to revive an LTTE threat, and later leveraging global and local narratives around Islamist extremism (e.g., Mumbai 2008, Paris 2015) to justify chauvinist politics. The antidote is national unity—trust, harmony and mutual respect among communities. Our government has worked to build inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony, ensure equal treatment before the law, and prevent state discrimination.

¶ 03 We have revived independent, methodical investigations to restore public confidence, especially among Catholics, reviewing prior reports (PCoI, PSC, other committees) and implementing relevant recommendations. Legal processes have commenced against responsible individuals, and reforms are underway to strengthen intelligence systems. A recent planned incident in Arugam Bay was pre-empted due to improved intelligence capability.

¶ 04 Public confidence also requires transparency and independence in investigations, free from interference. Some who held Cabinet responsibility then are among those moving this debate today and now question us about naval incidents and radar detections—matters they themselves mishandled. Had they acted responsibly on intelligence at the time, this atrocity might have been averted. We are learning from history and taking necessary steps. Thank you.