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Tuesday, 22 January 2019 00:54 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Fresh from his trip to the Philippines President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday refused to step back from carrying out the death penalty for drug smugglers and vowed to step up the fight against drugs with new approaches that will be kicked off next week.
The President addressing an event held at the Vidyananda Maha Vidyalaya, Mulliyawal, Mullaitivu, to declare National Drug Prevention Week emphasised that the government will not change its decision to impose capital punishment on drug traffickers, a statement released by the President’s Media said.
During this event the President officially launched the toll-free telephone number 1984 for the public inform the authorities of drug-smuggling and related organised crimes.
President Sirisena said that according to a request made by him the Government of the Philippines agreed to provide assistance to Sri Lanka to curb illegal drug smuggling and a Philippines expert team is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka shortly to explore the possibility of providing technology consultancy service in this regard.
The President said that the Philippines is a country which was being destroyed due to rampant drug menace and due to the initiatives taken by the President of Philippines it has overcome this challenge. President Sirisena also said that even though he will not implement some decisions taken by the President of Philippines, will not change several stern decisions taken against drug traffickers despite concerns of human rights violations raised by activists.
The President further said that the trauma and damage caused to the country, nation and the future of children should be considered first.
Information regarding not only the drug dealers, but other parties behind these dealers will be revealed to the country, said the President.
The inaugural ceremony was held under the patronage of the President at Mulliyawallei Vidiyanathan Maha Vidyalaya, Mullativu, after a pledge was taken on drug prevention in collaboration with 150,000 school children at the schools in Jaffna district during the daily assembly in the morning.
President Sirisena is conducting a program in order to prevent and eradicate drugs which has become a major issue to the whole nation with a special consideration given for school children naming it the Drug Prevention Week.
As part of this, parents will be invited to school classrooms on Tuesday for a brief on drug prevention. On Wednesday an awareness program will be carried out regarding the prevention of drugs and related legal matters.
A program will be conducted on 24 January, with the participation of the political authority to enhance the anti-drugs campaign. On 25 January a program will take place for promoting drug prevention messages using social media and making the media personal aware of this issue. On 26 January program for carrying on activities of drug prevention within volunteer organisations will also take place. On 27 January drug prevention activities will be conducted in religious places and in Dhamma Schools.
In addition, the President said that the best messengers to carry the message to the society are school children. Therefore the President emphasised the importance of active contribution of school children for the prevention of drug-trafficking campaign.
Meanwhile, President Sirisena handed over funds for rebuilding 11 schools affected by recent floods in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts. Financial allocations were also granted for 13 schools without drinking water facilities in Mullaitivu districts.
Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake handed over the documents related to 264 acres of state and private lands that were released to the original owners. These lands in Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Mannar Districts were earlier acquired by the army during the conflict. The Army Commander handed over the documents to the President to release 1099 acres of land belonging to four main government farms and the President handed them over to the District Secretaries.
Ministers Daya Gamage, Rishad Bathuideen, Dr. Suresh Raghavan, Governor of the Northern Province, SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera, Angajan Ramanathan and Cader Masthan, District Secretaries, Provincial Secretaries and Government Agents, Officers of the Army, Navy, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Chief of Defence and Staff of the Army were also present at this occasion.
