2026-02-18 / debate: Special Commodity Levy Act Order, Customs Ordinance Resolution, Motor Traffic Act Regulations 2026-02-18
Hon. Namal Rajapaksa criticised the Government's response to the murder of an attorney, arguing that official attempts to link the deceased to organised crime effectively normalise the killing and implicate the Government itself in criminal networks, while deflecting accountability from the President's Office or Prime Minister's Office. He challenged the Government's inconsistency in deploying the military and police during crises such as strikes and Cyclone Michaung while refusing to formally honour war heroes or acknowledge their role in ending the conflict. He further accused the Government of hypocrisy regarding the 2022 *Aragalaya* protests, alleging that members of the current administration helped instigate unrest that led to deaths, only to assume power without accountability to those affected. Rajapaksa concluded by calling for a broader, constructive vision to rebuild the economy and society rather than reliance on political intimidation and narrow partisan interests.
Madam Presiding Member, in response to what the Government says: just 10–15 minutes ago, what did the Minister in charge of the Police say? He suggested that the late attorney had appeared for members of organized criminal gangs, and that a group from such gangs was behind him. That is the Government’s answer. We want to ask about this.
Hon. Harsha Nanayakkara, the Minister of Justice, is also an attorney-at-law with his own professional history. We too could sling mud about his supporters if we wished—but we do not, out of respect for the legal profession. If you take that line of argument, you could claim he too relied on organized criminals. Ask him. You made a great fuss about those brought back on a plane—ask whether he did not appear for them. But that was his professional duty; we do not challenge that. What are you doing now? After an attorney is murdered, you try to normalize the murder by blaming it on organized crime, suggesting clearly that some organized gangs are backed by the Government. Is that control from Pelawatte, the President’s Office, or the Prime Minister’s Office? We do not know.
The Prime Minister went to Mannar and said the war was not fought on her instructions. Then what about 1988–89? There was a war, there was terrorism. That is over. If you continue to stoke nationalism, play to the gallery, and toy with people’s hearts, that is not fair.
You will not even open your mouths to call a war hero a war hero. On Independence Day you cannot speak of what our war heroes did. But when a strike happens in a state institution, or some “protest” is needed, you are happy to use war heroes to break coconuts. Yet you won’t call them “war heroes” or acknowledge the victory they secured. It is you who should be ashamed—not us. But whenever there is a problem—a storm, a cyclone, bus strikes—you run to the tri-forces and the Police asking for help. During Cyclone Michaung too, that’s what you did. Yet you cannot bring yourselves to grant them due respect; instead you try to run your Government by suppressing and intimidating people.
We saw your attitude to doctors. Doctors have rights and demands; you have a duty to listen. Instead you say, “Go protest and see,” or, “Let them take trade union action, let the people suffer and see.” That is how you whipped things up in the Aragalaya too—incited people, dragged them to the streets, a Member of Parliament was killed, and in the end 12 people were lynched. Those who engineered it ended up in power. And after that, there was no one to speak for those people. So do not look at all this with a narrow mindset. Take a clear vision to rebuild the economy, society, and people’s lives.
You uprooted nursery plants and brought in “flower plants,” boasting like you brought in a Kadirgamar to Parliament—