Some politicians describe her utterance as one aimed at gaining political mileage at the upcoming provincial council election.

The Sinhala community has retorted with anger in social media postings.

Some say no dictatorship is needed either for the south or the north.

At the same stage where Maheswaran made the controversial remark, minister Vajira Abeywardena said all should live as Sri Lankans and that no attempt should be made against that.

Later, Maheswaran said she did not intend to say that the LTTE should be recreated.

Joining Ranjan Ramanayake over the phone in a live facebook dialogue, she said she made the remark due to stress.

LTTE is a proscribed terrorist organization in Sri Lanka

Following the end of the war, northern politicians have been saying that there has been an increase in the consumption of alcohol and drugs in the north, also causing an increase in rapes.

During her speech, Maheswaran charged certain politicians were taking drugs to the north in their vehicles.

Vijayakala entered politics after her husband MP T. Maheswaran was killed in 2008
Majority opinion in the north

Meanwhile, PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Siddarthan says they do not believe in the LTTE or in any form of armed struggle.

Solutions should be found through peaceful means, he said.

Siddarthan said he would keep a watch on what the prime minister and other southern politicians would do with regard to the matter.

They definitely don’t want an armed struggle again

He went onto say that he did not think the northern people still had belief in the LTTE, and added that they definitely did not want yet another armed struggle.

No one will believe the remark by the deputy minister that is aimed at gaining votes at elections, he said.

Opposition leader of the northern provincial council S. Thawaraja said Maheswaran had made a ‘mad’ remark, which was not the stand of the Tamil people.

He said the UNP leadership should answer for that remark.

The UNP’s stand

UNP general secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said the party did not approve of the state minister’s statement.

He said he would ask her for an explanation, adding that what she would have meant was that there should be discipline.

Not only the UNP, but also other parties have persons with various opinions. Some make statements without thinking about the implications, he said.

Everybody knows that the solution for the rapes, drugs menace, crimes in the north was not the LTTE, and the law enforcement authorities have taken remedial measures, Kariyawasam said.

Speaker orders an investigation

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya yesterday decided to ask the attorney general to look into if the state minister’s remark if it amounted to a violation of the constitution or the existing laws.

The matter heated up parliament and sittings were put off until this morning.