The Hon. Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam

¶ 01 Yes, thank you, Sir.

¶ 02 Hon. Prime Minister, funds have not been allocated to the OMP and the Office for Reparations. You have the people’s mandate; as Prime Minister, take charge and do not let jokers run this Parliament.

¶ 03 My second Supplementary Question: You asked me to identify cases of interest. All violence across this country is of interest. The Government must investigate what is investigable; I cannot instruct you which cases to take up. Next, you asked me to provide a list of political prisoners. You are the Prime Minister; the Minister of Justice is under you. Obtain from him the list of political prisoners eligible for release under the President’s powers of pardon. If you cannot, give me the Premiership; I will obtain it. Show compassion on political prisoners. People in the North and East — except in Batticaloa — have given you a mandate; you should speak about their release.

¶ 04 On land grabs, you said past governments did this. They taught this lesson well. In my Trincomalee District, the same pace of State-backed land appropriation continues in Kuchchaveli; in Batticaloa, grazing lands via the Mahaweli Authority; and in Vavuniya too. Land grabs are continuing under your Government — that is the problem.

¶ 05 On the new Constitution, you said elections must be held first; yet the Minister to your left says Provincial Council Elections will not be held this year, while the President says they will. You say there will be another election this year, and only then a new Constitution. If you are to bring a new Constitution, can you allocate funds urgently, as there is no Budget allocation this year?