COLOMBO, Jul 24 : Sri Lankan Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara on Friday defeated an opposition no-confidence motion over his alleged failure to manage recent Negombo prison riots that killed more than 30 people.
Following a debate for more than six hours, the motion against the justice minister was defeated by a huge margin of 152 to 36.
The opposition accused Nanayakkara of his inaction and failure to manage two days of violent rioting at the Negombo prison in Sri Lanka's Western Province earlier this month.
Negombo Prison witnessed two days of rioting on July 5 and 6, in which more than 30 people, mostly prison guards and a few inmates, were killed.
Following the violence, inmates from the overcrowded Negombo Prison were transferred to prisons across the island nation.
After the riots, Nanayakkara accepted responsibility but refused to resign, despite opposition demands and a parliamentary motion brought forward on Friday to force him out of office.
"I have no reason to resign just to please the opposition," he said during the debate.
"When the clashes started, the Justice minister spent the night without moving into any action; it was a clear case of abdicating responsibility", Ajith P Perera, the senior opposition legislator who moved the motion against Nanayakkara, said. (PTI)
