Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Jagath Vithana yesterday (26) called on the National People’s Power (NPP) government to immediately conduct a comprehensive security review for parliamentarians, following revelations of a possible assassination plot against him.
Vithana said that he only became aware of the alleged plot after inquiries revealed that two police officers had visited his home days earlier to check whether he had bodyguards or firearms.
“IGP Priyantha Weerasooriya had known about this potential threat for nearly a month but failed to brief me,” he said.
The lawmaker criticized the government for abandoning the provision of special security for MPs after taking office last year.
“The authorities appear to have panicked only after the assassination of Weligama Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Lasantha Wickramasekara on 22 October,” Vithana noted, adding that police visited his Kalutara home in a three-wheeler on 24 October while he was in Parliament.
Vithana also slammed government claims that MPs did not require additional security, highlighting the dangers posed by the failure to protect elected representatives.
He stressed that instructions for MPs to surrender firearms to law enforcement have backfired, leaving parliamentarians vulnerable.
Citing police data, Vithana revealed that 51 people have been killed and 56 injured in 100 shooting incidents so far this year, with Lasantha Wickramasekara being the latest victim.
He questioned how authorities could deny protection to a public representative who had previously named those threatening his life.
Vithana urged the NPP administration to restore safety measures and prevent further attacks against lawmakers and the public they represent.
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