Abduction incident:

Speaker says will ask IGP to take action

Uditha Kumarasinghe, Irangika Range and Sandasen Marasinghe

Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara yesterday informed Parliament that he will ask the IGP to take immediate steps on the incident where relatives of the three Batticaloa district TNA MPs have been abducted.

The Speaker was responding to a privilege matter raised by TNA MP Suresh Premachandran. Later TNA MP R. Sampanthan also expressed his views on this issue. Premachandran raising his privilege matter said the Pillaiyan group has abducted a group of relatives of Batticaloa District TNA MPs Thangeswary Kathiraman, S. Jeyanandamoorthy and P. Ariyanethran on Tuesday.

The Pillaiyan Group had threatened three TNA MPs that they will be killed if they vote against the Budget on December 14.

He said relatives of the TNA MP T. Kanagasabai had also be abducted in a similar manner on November 19. UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella said steps should be taken on this incident before the third reading of the budget.

The Speaker said: “I completely intervened on the November 10 incident”.

Chief Government Whip Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said the TNA should not point the finger at the Government for every incident.

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe speaking on the incident said it was a very serious issue adding that the Pillaiyan Group at a press conference had accepted that they abducted the son-in-law of TNA MP T. Kanagasabai last month.

Have we seen anywhere in the world where relatives of Parliamentarians are abducted in this manner? At present TNA MPs are subjected to the threats. In future, this threat may come to other political parties too. TNA MP R. Sampanthan said they would like to know the response of the Speaker on this issue.

The Speaker said he will immediately contact the IGP and take steps regarding this incident. “With respect to the earlier incident too, I took immediate measures by contacting the authorities.”