Maheshwaran removes shirt inside House

Pramod de Silva and Irangika Range

KOTTE: UNP MP T. Maheshwaran yesterday stripped off his shirt and stood bare bodied in the well of Parliament in protest against alleged eviction of Tamil lodgers from Colombo by the Government citing security reasons.

In an unprecedented scene inside the August assembly a furious half naked Maheswaran charged the Government for harassing innocent Tamils living in Colombo.

He said Tamil lodgers in Kotahena, Bambalapitiya, Wellawatte, Armour street were dispatched in 45 buses to the North. The House was thrown into pandemonium as the TNA MPs too added to the din. They wanted the Government to take immediate action to put a halt to this action.

Maheswaran said if Parliament did not allow a debate on the matter he would continue his protest and disrupt proceedings.

Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara advised the member to put on his shirt adding he was unable to allocate time for such a debate without prior notice to the Chair in writing.

In return Chief Government whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said the Government was willing to grant such a debate. Thereafter, Maheshwaran done his shirts. TNA member Suresh Premachandran said that the Government should remove security forces from the North and East before they remove Tamils from Colombo. “If you give our homeland to us, we are ready to go there”, he said.