Women for Justice condemn Vijayakala’s speech

By Divya Thotawatte 

The Women for Justice Organisation (WJO) yesterday called on the Government to arrest State Minister of Child Affairs Vijayakala Maheswaran regarding a controversial speech that has been roundly condemned as being supportive of the LTTE.

Women for Justice Secretary Savithri Gunasekara, recalling the terrible past of the war, said that Vijayakala, as a State Minister, saying that the LTTE should be restarted was a fatal blow to the future of this country. 

“The speech of the Minister is a huge threat to Sri Lanka. It could easily be misconstrued at an international level when a Minister who represents the Government says that we should bring back the LTTE, which is considered a terrorist organisation in most countries around the world,” she said.

WJO Advisor Ajith Prasanna charged that the State Minister’s speech was supportive of the LTTE and therefore was a threat to the national security of Sri Lanka. 

“Dividing the country and even encouraging it or building a separate government or assisting such a thing is stated as a crime in the oaths sworn by the MPs when they come to power. According to the 6th Amendment of the Constitution it is clear that Minister Vijayakala has violated the law,” he said. 

He said that the Minister stating that there was a need for the LTTE, which is banned as a terrorist organisation, to be revived could be considered encouraging the organisation to build a separate state in the country.  Prasanna also blamed Foreign Affairs and Development Assignments Minister Tilak Marapana and Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeywardena, who were seated beside Vijayakala at the event, for keeping quiet as she made her statement.