The Hon. Thurairasa Ravikaran

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, before addressing the emergency extension, I must note that in Mullaitivu the peaceful protest by families of the forcibly disappeared completes nine years tomorrow and enters its tenth year. Parents keep waiting every day—believing their son, daughter, husband, wife, father or mother will return—trusting changing governments and appealing to the international community, only to pass away one by one in grief. All the government’s rhetoric on children’s psychology, women’s liberation, gender equality, human rights and elder care will be tested by the justice you deliver to the families of the disappeared. You seek emergency on account of Middle East tremors; when will you feel the pain of those suffering right here?

¶ 02 Regarding the present emergency extension under the Public Security Ordinance via Gazette 2477/46 from 28.02.2026, we all understand that the conflict in the Middle East can affect Sri Lanka—energy supply, overseas employment, tourism, maritime services and foreign exchange being closely tied to global conditions. The President said on 03.03.2026 that measures are in place to prepare the country for economic shocks, and spoke of about a month of buffer capacity and possible expansion—fuel storage, refining capacity, maintaining essential services, and practical arrangements to avoid past crises.

¶ 03 As MPs, especially from the North and East, we support the government’s efforts—beyond emergency procedures—to face and overcome such global shocks. We know economic crises and fuel shortages, and we have lived self-reliantly even under economic blockade. Ensuring such conditions never recur is our common duty.

¶ 04 However, while current emergency may be used to preserve essential services and economic or national security, this government and this House must ensure it is used only for those purposes. Extraordinary powers given to officials must be used solely to maintain normal civilian life during national crises—not to silence Tamil voices or continue structured practices of dispossession and oppression in the North and East. We lived under emergency for years during the war; in our people’s eyes such laws are seen as instruments that crush Tamil rights, creating fear and uncertainty.

¶ 05 Do not use regulations to curb peaceful protests or daily life in the North and East. We continue to struggle for justice for the genocide perpetrated during the war, for the disappeared entrusted to your custody, for the release of political prisoners, and to protect our lands—against the Mahaweli Authority, Forest Department, Wildlife Department and the military—who keep grabbing Tamil lands even during floods, landslides or global upheavals. Within the island we struggle with you; beyond the island our fishers struggle with Indian trawlers. Ensure emergency is not used to suppress these struggles.

¶ 06 In these uncertain global times, every community in this country must feel protected and respected, and every citizen must trust that law will be used fairly and responsibly. We will support the government’s efforts to shield the country from global economic and social shocks—beyond emergency procedures. But as long as past justice for us remains pending, our struggle continues; thus, we reject the extension of emergency. Let your use of emergency, if any, prove that national security aligns with people’s rights. Thank you.