Rulers of the country had not grasped the seriousness of the problem the country faces internationally, Chairman of the National Movement for Social Justice, Karu Jayasuriya said yesterday in Colombo.

Jayasuriya told the media that his outfit had conducted an in-depth study of the possible consequences of the Geneva resolution passed on Sri Lanka.

“When we look at this issue, we can very clearly say that our leaders have completely failed us. They have displayed their inability not only within the country but also internationally as well. If things continue at this rate at the Geneva Human Rights Council, our country could face serious difficulties. No matter what anyone says, it is the truth. In the end, the innocent people of our country will suffer,” Jayasuriya said.

In recent times Sri Lanka has lost the support of many friendly states. These countries respected Sri Lanka as a country that pursued non-aligned policies. But many of those countries have voted against or abstained from voting this time.

“We have an understanding of what happened. Therefore, what we should do today is not to deceive the people of this country. We must understand the reality and acting accordingly. In the modern world, no country can stand alone. We must always stand hand in hand with our traditional allies,” he said.

Jayasuriya added that the 20th Amendment played a main role in weakening our country both nationally and internationally. With the 20A, every institution has become a puppet of the President.

“This is why politicians in this country today have been able to shut down certain police units and transfer senior police officers at will. There is no point in running a police commission in such a background. Can free and fair elections be expected in such a country ?” he asked.

He said that, according to social surveys conducted, 81% of the people in this country do not approve of the 20th Amendment. Therefore, the 20th Amendment must be repealed for Sri Lanka to be re-energized and democratized.

Given below are excerpts from the press conference:

Another unfortunate incident reported this week was the discovery of toxic coconut oil. The people of this country became aware of this thanks to the media. It does not appear that the law is being enforced against the responsible persons. Re-exporting coconut oil containing this toxin is not the only solution. The law should be enforced against those who tried to destroy the innocent people of this country by bringing in such poisonous food as well as those who tried to consolidate their wealth in it. Such items cannot be brought into the country without the support of the politicians and officials who run the country. These are great national crimes.

There are various reports of large scale corruption and fraud, including the sugar scam. In particular, the COPE Committee, the Finance Committee and the Treasury have acknowledged that irregularities have taken place in the importation of sugar. Therefore, a full force investigation should be carried out on this. We have suggested that to the President on several occasions. In fact, the sugar fraud is bigger than the central bank fraud. At least the money in the bank accounts of the accused in the Central Bank fraud has been confiscated by the state and the money will not go to anyone. But the money that has been embezzled from the sugar fraud is already in the pockets of the fraudsters. The total annual sugar requirement of the whole country is only 650,000 tons. About 50,000 tons of it is produced locally. Today the international price of a ton is around $ 465. Accordingly a kilo of sugar should be around Rs. 96. If our requirement is 50,000 tons per month, why did we import hundreds of thousands of tons and waste our foreign exchange during this difficult time? These are matters that need the attention of the Treasury.