Saturday 21st October, 2023

It is usually the MPs who are accused of threatening others. Parliament has been home to various lawbreakers under successive governments, and the propensity of these characters for violence becomes evident during stormy parliamentary sessions, where they trade fisticuffs liberally. State Minister Diana Gamage has complained that an Opposition MP assaulted her outside the Chamber yesterday.

A probe into her allegation is underway, we are told. Those politicians lay bare their true faces during election campaigns, beating and shooting their rivals to retain or regain power. But some MPs are complaining of threats to their lives from outsiders. Whoever would have thought, a few years ago, that the MPs would become so vulnerable?

SLPP MP Amarakeerthi Athukorale died a violent death at the hands of a savage mob during last year’s political upheavals. Violent protesters roughed up some other politicians as well; they escaped death narrowly. SLPP MP Uddika Premaratne’s vehicle was shot at near his private residence in Anuradhapura, last month. He insists that he was the target. The police are investigating the incident, but there has been no breakthrough. SLPP dissident MP Chandima Weerakkody has said he was threatened inside the parliamentary building itself.

He has called for an investigation into an incident where two members of the defence top brass allegedly threatened him recently. He has named names, and told the House that the two Generals who threatened him are furious with him because he has exposed the waste of public funds in the defence sector. Curiously, the Opposition is not flogging the issue hard, and some government MPs have torn into Weerakkody for clashing with the country’s ‘war heroes’, who defeated terrorism!

There are also complaints of other forms of threats to some MPs. Minister of Justice Dr. Wijayadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament yesterday that three members of the national anti-graft commission had sent a letter to the Constitutional Council (CC), threatening it. He did not reveal the content of the letter or what the threats were. An explanation is called for.

On Thursday, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena lost no time in suspending Opposition MP Ajith Mannapperuma from Parliament for one month for touching the Mace during a protest in the House. He has been accused of causing an affront to the dignity of Parliament with his disgraceful action. He should have acted with restraint. There were schoolchildren in the public gallery. But the question is why no action has been taken against those who sent the aforesaid ‘offensive letter’ to the CC. Doesn’t it amount to an affront to Parliament?

The MPs’ complaints of threats to them must not go uninvestigated. It is hoped that a thorough probe will be conducted into the allegation that MP Weerakkody received threats from two Generals. The public is not well-disposed towards most MPs, but the swordsmen, however decorated they may be, must be made to realise that they are not above the national legislature lest democracy should be in jeopardy.