The United National Party has demanded the government to take immediate action on the kidnapping of a four-year old boy from Hunupolagama, Meegallewa.

The UNP Claims that this incident is a “clear reflection of the times and status of a country caught up in a vicious cycle of corruption and violence.”

They further stated that the President and the President alone must take full responsibility for the breakdown of law and order and non-enforcement of the legal measures in the country.

Police Media spokesperson Ajith Rohana today told media that the CID has taken the leading role of the investigation and the residents of the village have been assisting the investigation.

Still no ransom demand or request have been made by the kidnappers.The child was kidnapped on July 28 at about 7.50 pm from his home.

The UNP further added that “by the Abolishing of the 17th Amendment, the government has made the Police Department another ‘party branch’ of the governing coalition.”

The full statement issued by the UNP is as follows:

Mainly because of her prevailing conditions of peaceful coexistence and abundant prosperity in the past, Sri Lanka was known to the world community as “Dharmadeepa’ or the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean”. Unfortunately, that rosy picture has changed.

Now we are dwelling among some of the ‘rogue states’ in the world. All our newspapers are filled with grisly stories of kidnappings, murder, extortion, rape and pedophilia. The latest landmark of this unholy evolution is the abduction of a four-year old child in Hunupolagama, Meegallewa. It is a clear reflection of the times and status of a country caught up in a vicious cycle of corruption and violence.

Even though the rulers and their wretched henchmen brag about saving the country from the grips of terrorism, the reality is that we are not even capable of protecting a four-year old child in his own home. It is a stark testimony to the tragic level our socio-economic conditions, an independent judiciary and age-old values have fallen into.

It is the firm stand of the United National Party that the President and the President alone must take full responsibility for the breakdown of law and order and non-enforcement of the legal measures in the country.

Through the abolition of the 17th Amendment to our Constitution, this regime has effectively made the Police Department another ‘party branch’ of the governing coalition. It is bereft of any honest and competent officers of the law. A 147-year history of the Police Department has been desecrated, beyond recognition. 

We could boast that a well-dressed and bejeweled lady could trek from Dondra Point to Point Pedro unmolested but the situation has deteriorated to such low levels today, leave alone a woman or a child, not even a grown man could live in safety in his own home.

Latest research reveals that on average, there occur at least five pedophile incidents in the country on a daily basis. Murder, kidnappings, attacks on people are no second to them. And it is widely known that political shadows lurk behind most of these criminal endeavors. 

It is patently apparent that those who wield political power are either totally enjoying immunity from the law or they are sure that they can get away with ‘blue-murder’. Newspaper pages are full of stories of this sorry state of affairs of the land.

This shouldn’t be so in a civilized society. If the rulers are genuinely interested in the cessation of these criminal acts, they no doubt can take appropriate action to avert such acts. But the tragedy is that they are simply looking the other way. We are most eagerly demanding that some timely and appropriate action is taken before the situation reaches a point of no return.

The disappearance of Kavindu Senanayake should not be brushed aside and the country is awaiting the safe return of this child. The Government must take some meaningful and serious measures to ensure the safe return of Kavindu to his wailing parents.