Exporters want decisive action taken against hate-mongers

The National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) yesterday called on the government to take decisive action against the perpetrators of the recent civil unrest in order to send a strong message to the world that there will be no room for similar situations in the future.

“The chamber urges that the government acts decisively to give a strong message to all and especially to the trade partners of the country overseas, that there will be no room in the future for such civil unrest,” the NCE said in a statement.

It called for quick and firm punishment for all who were directly or indirectly responsible for the unrest in order to deter such action in the future and to provide full compensation for the affected to rebuild their businesses and lives to enable full integration back to society in a meaningful manner without hard feelings.

The NCE called on the government to protect the message the country had conveyed since the ending of the civil war in 2009 that Sri Lanka was peaceful and stable, since these are important when an economy seeks to accelerate its growth through public-private partnerships and international trade and economic partnership agreements with other countries.

“The success of these trade deals depends upon other things, attraction of foreign investments to the country which in turn depends on peace, economic and political stability,” the chamber added.

The NCE said that the selfish actions of the extremist political elements, which had backed the unrest, were threatening the future of Sri Lanka.

“The chamber is strongly of the view that the actions of certain elements, which led to the recent civil unrest, would have been backed by groups with extremist political ideologies who have as their objective disruption of economic activities and the well-being of the ordinary citizens of our country,” it added.