PRESIDENT SAYS SOME ENVOYS SPOKE OUTSIDE THEIR LIMITS

MEASURES TO CONTROL KANDY UNREST

President Maithripala Sirisena said on Tuesday that some foreign envoys spoke outside their limits when the Sri Lankan Government took measures to arrest violence in Kandy in March.

He was speaking to the Sri Lankan community in London on the sidelines of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

He said scientists developed technological devices in the greater interest of humanity, yet it was questionable to what extent these devices were used for the intended purpose.“it has become a problem not only for Sri Lanka but also for the entire world. It has become a huge problem for the US. Within hours after the eruption of violence in Kandy, we imposed curfew and declared the state of emergency. We deployed military and banned the use of social media. When we did this, some in our country and some foreign envoys got irritated. Some spoke in accusative tone. Some envoys spoke outside their limits,” he said.

The President said that at that time, an organization connected to the UN had stated that Sri Lanka had managed to impose a complete ban on the social media sites-something even the US couldn’t do.

“Almost all the international organizations welcomed the Government’s move to ban social media, and many parents of school children and others told me that it was a good move and requested not to remove the ban,” he said.

The President said that about 75% of the media reports on the Kandy unrest incidents were completely wrong.

“Those wrong information reached to the Sri Lankan diaspora, who eventually come to a wrong conclusion about the country’s situation,” the President said.

He requested the members of the Sri Lankan community, who were present at the meeting, not to depend only on social media for credible information.

A large number of the Sri Lankan community living in London participated.

Ministers Mangala Samaraweera, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Rishad Bathiudeen and acting Sri Lankan High Commissioner in London Sugeeswara Gunaratne were also present.