The Hon. Ajith P. Perera
Ajith P. Perera responded to remarks made in his absence, clarifying that his earlier reference was to naval cadets on a ship near Sri Lanka and that the number was later identified as 208 rather than about 300. He said his position was that they should be brought to port and assisted on humanitarian grounds, irrespective of nationality, and thanked the President for ultimately taking that action. He criticized opposing calls not to admit them as inhumane.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, Hon. Najith Indika mentioned my name when I was away at the Constitutional Council. I must respond briefly.
¶ 02 Please give me 30 seconds.
¶ 03 Yesterday I said there were about 300 cadets on a ship near our country and that we hoped for their rescue. I did not say five- or six-year-old children—I said cadets. They said not 300 but 208. In the end, what I asked for is what was done. Hon. Hasara Liyanage said do not let them in and do not bring them to port; we said bring them and help them; do not be inhumane. Whether 300 or 208 is not the point—they are also someone’s children. They are naval cadets. Do not be so unjust. Whether foreigners or Sri Lankans, we speak up for their rights and show compassion—be it Iran, America, India or China. We thank the President for taking that step in the end. I responded because Hon. Hasara Liyanage spoke in an inhumane manner.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Friday, 6 March 2026 ·No. 23376 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/5190
Cite as: The Hon. Ajith P. Perera. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 6 March 2026. No. 23376. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/5190