The Hon. G.G. Ponnambalam

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, Hon. Major General (Rtd.) G.D. Sooriyabandara, who spoke before me, ended with remarks about the North and East maritime belt, calling it a long stretch through which drugs are increasingly brought in, stressing the need to control it.

¶ 02 I served in Parliament from 2001 to 2010. During that time, a ceasefire existed between the LTTE and the then government. In 2006, the government unilaterally withdrew and prosecuted a war leading to genocide. During that period, as an MP, I had increased access to the LTTE and their administration. I say this not to provoke anyone, but with pride: in the East then, drug use had dropped to almost zero. In particular, within areas under LTTE control, drug use was zero. Because their administration ran with the express desire to protect their people, they could eradicate it. Even in government-controlled areas in the North and East then, drug-related issues were minimal because the LTTE’s influence there made traffickers fearful. An administration with such affection for the people can resolve a social cancer like this.

¶ 03 But the reality? Even today, in the North and East, the military plays a major role in the spread of drugs. After the war ended, in 2015, when a plan under President Maithripala Sirisena to eliminate drugs was rolled out, the military advised to apply a counterinsurgency approach in the North and East. Within days, the military indicated they did not wish to fully eliminate it there. From 1995, after Jaffna came under military control, drug problems truly began to grow; after 2009, the North and East, especially the Northern Province, suffered much worse.

¶ 04 Today, when those involved in the drug trade are identified by the community and chased, they flee into army camps—that is the reality. When complaints are made to police about drug trading, they refuse even to record them. These facts are openly discussed in Jaffna coordination committee meetings.

¶ 05 Therefore, only an administration that genuinely cares for the people—a government with accountability—can curb such horrors. You first used the military to spread these drugs as part of defeating the LTTE’s struggle. That cancer has now spread to the South. Ask why; examine the military’s connections—you will find their role. It has spread that far largely through them. Those who profit from the drug trade now have their eyes opened.

¶ 06 As a political party, when we discuss resolving the national question, we emphasize people’s safety, welfare, rights, education, and health—basic needs the society requires. These matters must be left to the people concerned. Only then will those who implement them be accountable to those people, and only then will things function properly. Those with no link to the North and East, who worked for 30 years to weaken those peoples, cannot solve those regions’ problems while administering them. That is the truth.