UNP parliamentarian receives telephone threat

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 May 2007, 00:20 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) member of parliament for Gamphaha and former cabinet minister, John Ameratunga, with the permission of the speaker of the House, V.J.M.Lokubandara, tabled a special privilege motion when parliamentary sessions resumed at 9:30a.m Tuesday, stating that he received a telephone death threat before he left to attend the parliamentary session.

Amidst heckling by the cabinet ministers of the ruling party and JVP parliamentarians seated in the backbenches, Mr.Ameratunga said that he was not tabling this problem for his own safety but for the personal safety of all the parliamentarians.

Ameratunga also pointed out that no one has been arrested for the killing of former minister Laxman Kadirgamar, Tamil National Alliance(TNA) parliamentarians Joseph Pararajasingham and Ravi Nadarajah.

“Many murders are taking place throughout Sri Lanka. In my electorate Gamphaha alone, 20 civilians have been killed within the past three weeks. I am concerned about the security situation in the country," Ameratunga said.

The speaker told Mr Ameratunge that if he provides the telephone number from which the threatening call originated he can forward the information to the officials of Criminal Investigation Department (CID).