MP barred from Menik Farm: Speaker orders probe
BY YOHAN PERERA AND KELUM BANDARA
Dec 14, 2011

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa said yesterday he would instruct the Police Chief to inquire why Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) dissident MP Ajith Kumara was not allowed to visit displaced families living in the Menik Farm welfare village in Vavuniya.

Mr. Rajapaksa gave this assurance in response to a question of privilege raised by Mr. Kumara who said his rights as a parliamentarian had been breached by being denied entry to the welfare village.

The Speaker said an MP should have access to information on any matter and added that the security officers at the Menik Farm had even disregarded a request by Resettlement Minister Gunaratne Weerakoon.

“I informed the minister about this matter. Then, he contacted the security officer concerned and told me that I could proceed. Yet, I was not allowed to do so by the security officers on duty,” Mr. Kumara said.

He alleged that making matters even worse party activists Lalith Kumar Weeraraju and C. Kugan who accompanied him on this journey had been abducted, and their whereabouts were not known to anyone at the moment.

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka