The general public of this country would, no doubt, be pleased to learn that the new Minister of Justice and his team are seeking to have the Death Penalty carried out. The families of victims of the horrendous crimes that have been committed in this country have been calling for this for quite some time. So has the public as was instanced when that fearless judge Sarath Ambepitiya was assassinated at the behest of a drug baron, who is said to be yet operating whilst in death row! There have been many murders committed by hired killers such as the killing of the Harmer family in Dehiwela, who were hacked to death.

It is not a matter of taking revenge but a matter of getting rid of the vultures that feed on other human beings. We have a right to demand that the government protect our basic human right to live and to live in security.

There are some pious frauds particularly in the ‘West’ who may try to impose sanctions on us if we recommence executions, but it is we who have the problem not they. Their forefathers gouged the eyes of Galileo, whose telescope showed that there was no heaven up there, they burnt so-called heretics at the stake. Don’t we know of their activities in the wars of the 20th Century, the bombing of Dresden for example and atrocities committed in Korea, Vietnam and now being committed on a daily basis in Afghanistan and murders in Iraq and the televised hanging of Saddam Hussain and his colleagues? Humanism entered their lives only in recent years. Let them not seek to preach to us! We have a serious problem and capital punishment will certainly serve as a deterrent. The mere fact that there are over one hundred in ‘Death Row’ in the prison in Colombo and over 150 in Bogambara in Kandy serves to indicate the level and nature of heinous crime in this country.

The Bible provided for execution for over thirty crimes. Capital Punishment, the execution of a convicted person, has been an accepted form of justice through the ages. The Bible has many references to the death penalty, for example (Exodus 21:12 "Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death.") for fornication (Deuteronomy 22:22 "If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die.") For centuries the death penalty was not used in England, but torture and interrogation were and in many cases such methods ended in death.

In America, before the Revolution, the death penalty was used for a variety of different crimes such as treason, murder, larceny, burglary, rape, and arson. African Americans were usually sentenced to death for petty crimes and hanged.

Capital punishment has almost always been a feature of the criminal justice system in the US. In modern society the death penalty or "capital punishment", is still used to enforce the laws of man in many different countries. As we move into the twenty-first century there is little doubt that the death penalty is an effective punishment for violent crimes.

Is there anyone out there whose wife or family member died as a result of an LTTE bomb? My thoughts go out to the families of all those innocents who were killed by Prabhakaran, the Pol Pot of eelam, and his goons. Let me recall a few of the mass murders committed at his instance:

1) The slaughter at the Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura on 14th May 1985 when 120 pilgrims were shot dead.

2) The massacres at Mamaduwa on 22/7/86 where 32 were killed;

3) The Madawachchiya massacre on 24/7/86, where 40 were killed inside a bus;

4) The Mahakongaskada killing where 44 peasants were shot dead.

5) The murder of 28 Buddhist monks at Aranthalawa on 7/2/ 87.

6) The Habarana Road massacre where 127 were shot dead on 17/4/87;

7) The massacres on one day and night on 15th October 1992 in five villages, Palliyagodella, Ahamedpura, Agbopura, Pamunurana and one other village where no less than 173 people including children and women were shot dead.

8) The 133 men women and children who were butchered at Gonagala in 2001.

What about the Central bus stand bomb at Pettah which claimed 120 lives, the Maradana bomb which claimed 37, almost all children and the Dehiwela bomb that killed 70?

Let us also remember the 640 policemen who were killed after they surrendered to the LTTE. Should those murderers not be executed?

Let us also remember those who died in the Central Bank bomb which killed 87 civilians and injured over 500 others. I have listed only a few atrocities committed by and at the instance of Prabhakaran. He like Pol Pot violated human rights of thousands. Can anyone stand up and say that society had no right to take his life and those of the others who killed innocent civilians? Speak up! Let us not be hypocrites.

Incidentally, I am all for a judicial inquiry even into the killing of innocent Tamil civilians in 1983 and the prisoners who were in the custody of the State in the Welikada jail. All those who committed premeditated murder must be executed. If hanging be considered gruesome let us introduce the Electric Chair or the Lethal Injection.

Let us not be pious frauds! Those responsible for the horrible crimes being committed in this country cannot be allowed to go unpunished. Many children have been raped and murdered in recent days. Don’t these mindless killers deserve to die so that they won’t be able to repeat their crimes? Executions may not put an end to heinous premeditated crime entirely but certainly those who commit pre-planned gruesome crimes will think twice of the punishment they would receive before committing such crimes. Those who commit such crimes as those mentioned above MUST be put to death.

We demand that the government act and act now to recommence executions for premeditated murder. Check out the heinous crime situations in Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East, where the death sentence is carried out for such offences and you will have the answer.

The state has a duty to protect its citizens. Mr. President, we citizens expect you to act now. You owe it to us.