The Hon. Mahinda Jayasinghe - Deputy Minister of Labour

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, first I thank Hon. Shanakiyan Rasamanickam for bringing this Adjournment Motion. Before I address it, I will mention the revised pensions due on 10 July. For those retired between 2016 and 2019, our Government has arranged increases from 10 July 2025. A circular was issued on the 1st. Some retirees have already received Rs. 2,000, Rs. 2,500, and some Rs. 4,500 as interim payments because there was not enough time to finalize the full pension recalculation; the Pensions Department has assured that proper pension adjustments will follow.

¶ 02 Turning to the Motion: The Easter attack occurred on 21.04.2019 — 63 months ago. Of that, our Government has been in office for nine months; for 54 months, power was held by the then UNP/SJB and later the Pohottuwa Governments. For seven of those months, Sajith Premadasa, Ranjith Madduma Bandara and Kavinda Jayawardhana were on the Government side; the rest under Pohottuwa. In our nine months, the Public Security Minister outlined steps taken. We cannot disclose all sensitive findings publicly; doing so would compromise investigations. We will say only what can be said.

¶ 03 Some Members cite selected statements by His Eminence but ignore when he has commended steps taken by this Government and the President. Many rely only on social media as a source, bringing falsehoods here.

¶ 04 As Leader of the Opposition, he should be responsible. He said “stop political witch-hunts.” Name even one political witch-hunt under this Government. Is the remand of S.M. Ranjith a witch-hunt? Is Pillayan’s remand a witch-hunt? Is S.M. Chandrasena’s recent remand a witch-hunt? Is Mahindananda’s remand a witch-hunt? Do not make noise — answer that. These are not witch-hunts.

¶ 05 Yesterday Hon. Namal Rajapaksa spoke of an incident involving the daughter of Dr. Maheshi. He said it was shameful for the Government to “take revenge” because of a word she uttered. But Lasantha Wickrematunge was killed over a word — not a mistaken one, a true word — and where was their concern for his child then? I need not repeat the word here; they know it. The same people now show great sorrow about the current incident. Meanwhile, prisons are progressively taking control district by district as the law takes its course; recently Kandy and now Anuradhapura are seeing action; perhaps Hambantota next — because the Cabinet has even decided to investigate the Central Cultural Fund.

¶ 06 I recall going to Katuwapitiya on the very night of 21 April 2019; the scenes still shake our hearts. In the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, we obtained a mandate to deliver justice to victims and enforce the law on perpetrators. Setting an April 21 target was our goal; setting targets is not wrong. Due to various reasons there were delays, but, as the Minister explained, we are moving forward and will continue all investigations relating to Easter. As for claims that we are using “your officers,” the Police and intelligence are not SJB officers; they are State officers.