Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena stressed that he does not approve the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the Easter Sunday bombings summoning intelligence officers and disclosing intelligence information to the media.
The President also noting that so far the witnesses summoned to the PSC were officers who were removed from the service, said no official of the security forces currently in service will be presented to the Select Committee and he will accept the responsibility for all of them.
President Sirisena made these comments at the monthly meeting with the senior officials of the Police Department held at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon (07).
The President said the Attorney General (AG) had in writing informed him that five cases regarding the April 21 attacks are being heard in the Supreme Court and appointment of a select committee and proceeding with a probe on the attacks is detrimental to the ongoing cases.
The President further said that he has forwarded the AG’s concern to the Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. According to parliamentary tradition, the Speaker should present such correspondence from the President to the parliament at the opening of sessions, the President said and expressed regret that the Speaker has not done so in this instance.
During the meeting, the President instructed the relevant Ministry Secretary to take steps to grant the land belonging to the Saluala Head Office in Jawatta to the Police Department for the construction of the Police Headquarters and also instructed the relevant ministry to dissolve the Salusala Board of Directors, which is a burden to the Government and is not functioning properly.
During the meeting, attention was also focused on the program prepared with regard to the promotions of the Police Department officers. It was noted that the Police Commission has approved the proposal relevant to the promotions and it has been directed to salaries commission and with their approval steps will be taken to grant promotions under three groups.
Approval to recruit new officers to the Special Task Force and procuring weapons were also discussed while the progress of the drug control program was also reviewed.
The President handed over Rs. 2.5 million financial assistance to the families of the police officers who were killed in the April 21 attacks.
Also, awards of Rs. 1 million each were presented to the three Muslims who informed about the terrorist’s safe house in Saindamarudu at the occasion.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
