Govt. cracks down on illegal arms and private security of politicians

By Uditha Jayasinghe

The Government has started cracking down on illegal arms and has prohibited politicians from keeping private security following an election day shootout that killed four, including a Presidential Advisor.

Government spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told media yesterday that the decision had been taken after a special National Security Council meeting chaired by President Mahinda Rajapaksa met on Wednesday evening.

Under the new programme the Government has commenced arresting underworld members, drug dealers and holders of illegal weapons. Citizens who may be in possession of a weapon have been told to hand over their arms at the nearest Police office or Army camp.

Politicians are also not allowed to keep any private security and those allowed by the State must wear their uniforms when on duty, according to the new regulations.

These steps were taken after four people were killed when two politicians of Sri Lanka’s ruling party clashed during the elections that were held on Saturday. It was reported that the two groups had illegal weapons.

Special Forces together with the Police will conduct special surveillance programmes and arrest offenders, the Minister warned.

 The Defence Ministry is also formulating a mechanism to gather information from people regarding illegal arms and drug dealing, he said. The Minister admitted that the Government could not stamp out the gun culture in the country overnight since it had been fostered over many decades.

“Since 1971 there has been a culture of violence in Sri Lanka. The JVP and LTTE both created insecurity among the people, especially the politicians so that they were forced to hire private security to protect themselves. But it is time that this changed.”

He also acknowledged that the preferential votes system needed to change so that fighting between candidates would be minimised. The amendments to the local government election bill would be introduced before or after Budget 2012, he speculated.