Buddha Sasana Ministry threatens legal action against false reports

BY CHAMIKARA Weerasinghe

SECRETARY Ministry of Buddha Sasana, D.W. Abeywickrema yesterday threatened legal action against those responsible for publishing or broadcasting any material stating that the Ministry of Buddha Sasana is to introduce a Bill to Parliament for preventing the use of loudspeakers in mosques.

Abeywickrema said, "there is absolutely no truth in this. On the contrary, it is a serious matter as far as the Ministry is concerned because it is apparent that someone had ventured to use the name of the Buddha Sasana Ministry to mislead the public."

"I will step up action to look into this matter no sooner I go to the ministry on Tuesday after the Poya day (today)," he said.

"Our Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremenayake had already made a statement against these news items," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, A.H.M. Fowzie charged that the news item in question had been published by two Tamil newspapers which are presently working for the UNP's victory at the forthcoming Presidential Election.

"This false propaganda was circulated by them in an attempt to mislead the Muslim public who are supporting the SLFP, to divert their vote for the UNP," he said.

"As a member of the Cabinet, I can state that there was no such decision to ban the use of loudspeakers in mosques. This is another example of malicious propaganda resorted to by certain political elements to gain political mileage," he said.

"Besides, the use of loudspeakers in Mosques is a right of the Muslim community. As a Cabinet Minister I will not allow any such action to be taken at any cost," said Minister Fowzie.