Pandemonium reigned in Parliament as some Opposition MPs lashed out at UNP Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahuman, who brought up the death of national rugby player Wasim Thajudeen and alleged that some of those responsible for killing had been elected to Parliament.
MP Rahuman, whose seat had been allocated at the opposition, was participating in the committee stage debate on budget proposals under the expenditure heads of the Ministries of Foreign Employment and Foreign Affairs.
Rahuman blamed the then government for the death of national rugby player Wasim Thajudeen. Rahuman said Thajudeen had been killed and the killers would soon be identified.
Opposition MPs registered their protest and said the matter could not be debated as it was sub judice.
Three UPFA MPs Johnston Fernando, Sanath Nishantha and Indika Anuruddha were seen aggressively rushing towards MP Rahuman, who continued to blame the previous government. MP Indika Anuruddha hit MP Rahuman with a book while other UPFA MPs surrounded the latter.
Leader of the House Minister Lakshman Kiriella said that many times in the Chamber killings of persons had been mentioned and the MPs should move ahead with the debate without wasting valuable time.
Sittings were suspended for ten minutes by the presiding member Edward Gunasekera.
When sittings resumed about ten minutes later with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya presiding government and Opposition MPs were still aggressive. MP Johnston Fernando was arguing with Plantations Minister Naveen Dissanayake. Other MPs and Serjeant-at-Arms Anil Parakrama Samarasekera stepped in to prevent a clash.
Opposition MPs led by MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena demanded that references in MP Rahuman’s speech to the case before the courts be expunged.
MP Rahuman alleged that UPFA MP Johnston Fernando had threatened him. He said that there were many other killings in addition to Thajudeen’s incident and cited the assassination of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickremathunga and missing of cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda as examples.
MP Fernando asked for time to speak because his name had been wrongly used.
Speaker Jayasuriya said that he could not give a ruling on the matter at the moment but promised he would do so after scrutinising the visuals of video footage of the recordings of the session. He sought the cooperation of MPs to proceed with the debate and called the names of MPs listed to deliver their speeches.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that there had been many occasions where MPs had fought each other in the past. “We have instances of MPs resorting to fisticuffs, but it is the first time in our Parliament history an MP was hit while he was speaking.”
UPFA MPs walked down to the Well and shouted against the government and the Speaker decided to suspend sittings again around 4.45 pm.
Sittings resumed around 6.10 pm and Speaker Jayasuriya said that he inspected video footage and Hansard records but there had been no mention of any person’s name or family’s name in the speech of MP Rahuman. Some sections of the speech would be expunged from the records, the Speaker said.
Courtesy:The Island