Mr. Presiding Member

¶ 01 We are conducting investigations and taking appropriate action. A comprehensive investigation into the Easter Sunday attacks is ongoing and results will be available soon, after which legal action will be taken.

¶ 02 At yesterday’s Committee on High Posts meeting, a completely false statement was wrongly released to the media by a certain Hon. Member. I regret this. The Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security has lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department. In line with that complaint, the law will be enforced against those who disseminated the false news as well as those who supplied it. The law must be applied to them.

¶ 03 I state responsibly that our Ministry Secretary, Mr. Ravi Senewiratne, never said that the Easter attacks were carried out at India’s behest or that India was the mastermind. Such a statement was never made. No country was mentioned. The Hon. Prime Minister chaired that committee, and there was no discussion about India or any other country. Yet a Member representing that committee has created and propagated a very wrong, reckless piece of misinformation. That is a very bad precedent. We will take the maximum legal action possible. Matters discussed at the Committee on High Posts are not to be disclosed; doing so is unethical and violates established practice. Please refrain from such conduct. Publishing false news of this nature gravely harms our diplomatic relations. Some Tamil newspapers and social media carried this falsehood today; we completely reject it. Neither the Secretary nor the Government made any such statement.

¶ 04 Hon. Presiding Member, let me also clearly state that within this short period we have achieved significant gains in our economy, investments, export earnings, and foreign reserves. Our foreign reserves now stand at USD 6.2 billion. Exports have grown beyond USD 13 billion. Tourism earned USD 2.3 billion in the past few months, with 1,725,000 arrivals. We have achieved 20 percent growth. Worker remittances are approaching USD 4 billion, and overall inflows are around USD 6.3 billion. Our tourism is growing not merely in numbers but in quality: arrivals are largely from India, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, China, France, Australia, the Netherlands, the United States, and other leading European nations, and these are higher-spending visitors, not just backpackers. Political stability, economic strengthening, and a peaceful environment have boosted arrivals. We are also improving infrastructure and will take further measures.

¶ 05 In conclusion, as a Government we are doing in this short time what many governments failed to do for years. The country that was pushed into political crisis and economic bankruptcy has, within about a year, been turned in a positive direction. We have taken the first steps and are on a successful path. In the coming period, we will move forward to deliver many victories to the people.

¶ 06 Thank you.

¶ 07 Question put, and agreed to.