Parliament

House blocks terrorist funding, TNA cry’s foul
By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent
Parliament approved an important piece of legislation last week that seeks to suppress terrorist financing but the Bill lacked unanimous support with the Tamil National Alliance MPs calling it another government move to suppress the rights of Tamils.

The JVP while supporting the Bill said it exposed the double standards of a Government that on one hand was directing assistance to a terrorist organization while on the other was trying to suppress its financing.

The Bill titled Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing was presented to the Legislature on Thursday by Foreign Affairs Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar to give effect to the international convention adopted by the United Nations in 1999 and thereafter ratified by Sri Lanka in 2000.
The Minister told Parliament the Bill makes it a punishable offence for any person, directly or indirectly, willfully or unlawfully to provide or collect funds with the intention that such funds be used or in the knowledge that they are to be used, in full or in part to commit acts of terrorism which have been stipulated in the Act as well as gives powers to the State to freeze and seize such funds.

It also provides for the extradition of offenders among countries, which are signatories to the Convention. Kurunegala district JVP parliamentarian Bimal Ratnayake said the former UNP regime and the present Government were the biggest violators of this Convention because both aided and abetted a terrorist organization – the LTTE.

“These two governments have directly aided and abetted the LTTE and there is no other government in the world which has done this.
They have been given duty free vehicles, recognition under the Ceasefire Agreement as having separate areas under their control and now with the signing of the Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS), the LTTE has been given the right to handle their own finances”, Mr. Ratnayake said.

He said the US Government had named some countries as supporting terrorists but these were only countries that posed a threat to the USA, but in this regard the Sri Lanka Government was more guilty of this than any other Government.

However TNA parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah saw this as something similar to the Prevention of Terrorism Act and said this is another step to suppress the freedom struggle of the Tamils.

” You cannot bring legislation and try to suppress our rights”, he said. TNA Parliamentary group Leader R. Sampanthan said the Government was violating the UN Convention on Human Rights by denying the right to self-determination of the Tamil people.

Deputy Sports Minister Sripathy Sooriaarachchi tried to allay some of the fears of the Tamil MPs saying it was not a Bill against the Tamils, Muslims or Sinhalese.

”This Bill is to fall in line with a UN adopted convention and will not be used to suppress the rights of any community”, he assured. Chief Opposition Whip Mahinda Samarasinghe said his party supported the Bill and said that it was important that while ratifying international conventions to ensure that that the principles they embodied would be given effect as well.

The TNA asked for a vote on the Bill and it was passed by a majority of 57 votes. The TNA joined by rebel UNP parliamentarian T. Maheswaran voted against the Bill.

An amendment to clause 3 of the Bill proposed by JVP’s Bimal Ratnayake was also passed after a vote taken by name. The controversial P-TOMS agreement between the Government and the LTTE which was signed amidst such a hue and cry was not far off from the minds of the JVP legislators when Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday tabled in Parliament a signed copy of the document. JVP Parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa asked for a two-day debate on the Agreement, the dates for which were to be decided at a party leaders meeting shortly.

On Friday, the Jathika Hela Urumaya called a news conference after the sittings ended to hand out copies of their proposed piece of legislation to share tsunami funds. The JHU says the Bill intended to replace the P-TOMS agreement is to be presented to Parliament on July 19 as a private member’s Bill.

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