In the wake of reports that former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK) is yet to return more than 100 12-bore shotguns that were issued to her when she was with the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP) from 1980 to 1990, the SLMP stated that the weapons had not been issued to the party or to Kumaratunga, but to Provincial Council members at the time.
The SLMP called on the relevant authorities including the Ministry of Defence to recall the weapons, stating that neither the party nor the former President had the guns in their possession.
Citing a document tabled in Parliament by State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, the media had reported that CBK, who led the SLMP for some time after the assassination of her husband and SLMP Founder, slain actor-turned-politician Vijaya Kumaranatunga, had received 104 12-bore shotguns in 1988 and that they had not been returned to the Government yet.
When asked whether the SLMP was in possession of the weapons issued at that time, its President Alfred Ramanayake has told the media that they were not in possession of any weapons and that they had been issued to Provincial Council members.
“It was a time when politicians could not even fearlessly come out of their homes. Therefore, the then Government got the military and Police to provide some training to politicians, particularly Provincial Council members, and provided them with weapons. It is not true if someone says that political parties got weapons and kept them in their offices,” he charged.
He also argued that CBK had not served as the SLMP’s General Secretary and had instead served as its President after Vijaya Kumaranatunga’s death.
“These weapons were issued to general secretaries of parties, so the fact that she had received these weapons is somewhat problematic. Even if that has happened for some reason, there was no need for her to keep hundreds of weapons. I am sure that they must have been distributed to Provincial Council members. The Government should get them to return the guns.”