UNP parliamentarian Rosy Senanayake said today the army should have acted with responsibility when taking on orders, whoever ordered them to fire at the innocent civilians who protested for clean water at Weliweriya.

“The army should know to whom they were firing at, whoever ordered them to do so. They were not terrorists or enemies but innocent civilians. It is a serious situation when those who are responsible in maintaining law and order have a mindset like this. The Government should take the responsibility over this incident. We did not see this sort of activities even during the war. People voted for this government with great expectation that they would maintain law and order and develop the country in a post war situation. We must be able to show our protest, whenever the government commits a wrong deed. An international investigation should be carried out with regard to the Weliweriya incident”, Ms. Senanayake said.

She said there were more than 30,000 harassment and sexual abuse cases on women but only some 600 perpetrators were remanded.

“Every 90 minutes, a woman is being harassed or abused in the country. There are more than 30,000 harassment and sexual abuse cases on women out of which more than 15,000 cases are on children. But only some 600 culprits were remanded. It is a question whether the law is carried out reasonably. About 50 politicians of the government local bodies were reported to have engaged in these harassment and sexual abuse cases. The government must take responsibility for these acts. Otherwise the people must take to the streets against this”, she said.

Ms. Senanayake alleged, the government had not been able to introduce any new economic project and we still depend on economic projects initiated by the UNP.

“When we took on the country in 2004, there was a minus economic progress but within two years we were able to bring it to 5.6 making it positive. We still reap the fruits of that economic development. This government has not been able to introduce any new economic project other than constructing concrete roads which has increased the debt.” (Ajith Siriwardana)
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