For weeks, there are reports about the Chief of Defence Staff facing allegations of harbouring a person involved in abducting 11 children, the President said. “The CID says they have all been taken into custody, but they have also been released on bail and there are no indictments served on them so far. And even though the suspects were in fact released on bail, the accusation against the Chief of Defence Staff is that he has prevented the arrest of a suspect,” President Sirisena added.

The President was referring to Admiral Ravindra Wijeguneratne whose arrest was said to be imminent after the CID told a Magistrate that he had been harbouring a suspect wanted in connection with the abduction and suspected murder of 11 Tamil youth in 2008-09.

President Sirisena told reporters that he had summoned the Attorney General, IGP and CID top brass for a meeting two days ago, and pitched into them about the failure to file cases against those being accused of these crimes. “I told them, don’t arrest and detain these people if you can’t file cases against them,” he said.“The way things are being reported, the perception in the country is that the Chief of Defence staff killed these 11 children,” the President charged.President Sirisena added that he had told the CID and the AG that they were arresting and remanding senior military officials for months and then releasing them, giving rise to an accusation against the Government that it was on a witch-hunt of war heroes.

Meanwhile, referring to the emergency Cabinet meeting called on Thursday (13), and reports that there had been major clashes at the meeting, President Sirisena quipped that Cabinet meetings were ‘highly democratic’ now.“There is a great atmosphere of debate and discussion at Cabinet meetings now. There are strong exchanges of views, fierce debates and frank discussions. In no Government, I have been a part of have Cabinet meetings been like this,” he said.