Disabled soldiers’ issue will be solved – Kiriella
The government will solve the issue of the disabled war heroes who are staging a sathyagraha in front of the Fort Railway station, Leader of the House and Public Enterprise, Kandyan Heritage and Kandy Development Minister Lakshman Kiriella told Parliament yesterday.
He said that the matter was discussed at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The Finance Minister had said he would study the matter and will come up with a solution next week. Kiriella agreed that the government had to assist war heroes who were rendered disabled in the operations against the LTTE to protect the unitary status of the country. Kiriella was responding to a query made by Opposition MPs Wimal Weerawansa and Ven.Athuraliye Rathana Thera.
Weerawansa queried if the government would take measures to address the pension issue of the disabled war heroes and the fallen war heroes. Ven Athuraliye Rathana Thera said the disabled soldiers and the kin of fallen soldiers were continuing the Sathyagraha for the ninth day and queried what the Government would do if they resorted to some other stern means to achieve their demands.
Minister Kiriella said that the Government was taking measures to solve the issue. “But the war came to an end in 2009. The government of the time lasted until 2015.
What was the government doing all that time without solving the war heroes’ issues?” he asked.
(Source: Daily News – By Sandasen Marasinghe and Camelia Nathaniel)
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Instead of solving the war heroes’ issues, the previous government was probably dealing with re-settling displaced people in north and east, clearing land mines, and having to justify why they finished the war to the West under the pressure of Tamil lobbyists.
However, something should have been started to help our disabled heroes. We owe them, and those who died protecting us, a deep debt of gratitude!