UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament yesterday that the Cabinet of Ministers is bound to be responsible to the House and must answer the question "who killed Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga?". The Government cannot escape revealing the truth, he said.

"A section within the Government which is not responsible to the Cabinet has committed this heinous crime. This section is actually above the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, it answers only to the Defence Secretary and Army Commander. They have killed Lasantha. We cannot allow motor cycle teams to come after us anymore," Wickremesinghe said.

"Do not be mistaken that only the Opposition has this threat against it. Not only the UNP and media but everybody including those who are in Government have this threat against them. We have called for an international level probe into this killing and this must be stopped immediately," he said.

The Speaker intervened and pointed out that it was the time allotted for Questions for Oral Answers and the Leader of the Opposition could not be allowed to proceed. "This is the Questions time Opposition Leader. You can tell the House anything you like later on."

Opposition Leader: "How could we proceed with Parliament affairs when Lasantha had been killed. The Government should allow international investigators to come and conduct an impartial inquiry into the killing."

Earlier the Chief Opposition Whip too tried to use the time to condemn the killing, but the Speaker did not allow him to continue.