No plan to arrest him

• He has a right to provide information for the sake of national security

 By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera 

Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara said there was no plan to arrest SJB MP Harin Fernando, but said he had a duty to provide information of the mastermind of the Easter Sunday attack to the CID if he knew about him, as he claimed. 

“MP Fernando had claimed that he was aware of the mastermind of the Easter Sunday attack. He has a right to provide information to the CID for the sake of national security. If he is not willing to do so, we have no issue,” the Minister said. 

The Minister also said MP Rishad Bathiudeen was arrested not because he was an MP, but he was connected to several incidents. 

“We referred the matters on Bathiudeen to the Attorney General,” he said. He said this when the UNP MP Ranil Wickremesinghe raised a privilege issue on the arrest of Mr. Bathiudeen and moves to arrest Mr. Fernando.