SLFP General Secretary and Agriculture Minister Duminda Dissanayake said the SLFP as a party will never support any form of racism within the country.
Addressing the media yesterday at the SLFP headquarters, Minister Dissanayake said the incidents in Kandy and several other parts of the country were instigated with the motive of breaking the trust people had in the President and the government.
“Some people used one incident to fulfill their mere political motives.I request all the party leaders to act wisely and not to encourage similar politically driven agendas planned to destabilise the country”, he said. He said that irrespective of one’s religion, all should move forward as one nation.
Minister Dissanayake explained that the social media sites were blocked in an effort to curb extremist hate speech. “We intend to find the main suspects and the people who initiated a communal unrest through social media posts and CCTV footage available.We will not let any person who instigates or spreads racism with in the country”, he said.
When he was questioned about former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s willingness to extend his support to the government to restore normalcy, Minister Dissanayake said there is no point in having discussions after sowing seeds of hatred to create ethnic tension.
“Any political party leader can come and talk to the President or the government about the current situation. But the Kandy incident was planned to gain mean political mileage. It is proven in the way how some political leaders speak about the issue”, he said.
Minister Dissanayake said the Kandy incident was very well planned to weaken the impression that international communities have on Sri Lanka under the present government.
“International communities including the United Nations continued to criticize Sri Lanka for racial discrimination under the former government but the perception began to change after President Maithripala Sirisena took over the position. Now, some political parties are trying to prove that nothing has changed under the present government as well. Their only intention is to destabilise the government,” he said.
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