Opposition to bring no-confidence motion against government
[27 Apr 2000]

A no-confidence motion will be brought against the government by the United National Party, if it does not summon an emergency session of parliament to debate the security situation in the country, following the Elephant Pass debacle, Opposition Minister, W.J.M Lokubandara, said yesterday.

Lokubandara claimed that the Leader of the House and Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs, Ratnasiri Wickramanayake wants the UNP to reconsider the call for an emergency session of parliament due to the sensitive nature of the subject involved.

Wickramanayake is also scheduled to meet the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in order to persuade him to reconsider the call for an emergency session, the UNP said.

" The ruling People's Alliance on April 5^th proved to the country that it can no longer claim the confidence of the legislature, when the government lost its motion on the Paddy Marketing Board dissolution. The military debacle at Elephant Pass has ultimately proved that the ruling party can no longer be trusted with the job of running the country", Lokubandara said.

With the next normal sitting of parliament scheduled for May 9^th, the UNP claims that they never questioned the large sums of money allocated for defence and supported funds for defence at all times, but now, following the Elephant Pass debacle, they need to know what went wrong.

Meanwhile, the UNP Parliamentary Group will hold an emergency meeting at the Sri Jayawardenapura parliamentary complex today to discuss the current security situation.

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