Certain organisations behind campaign to discredit Govt - Defence Spokesman

Rafik Jalaladeen

COLOMBO: Certain politically backed organisations were staging a deliberate campaign against the Government accusing it of having a hand in abductions and disappearances, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said.

Answering a question by a journalist on the abduction of several Muslim businessmen, during yesterday’s weekly security briefing, the Government Defence Spokesman accused a particular organisation of being behind the campaign acting under the influence of certain politicians to show the Government in poor light before the international community on the question of human rights.

“There is an organisation sending Short Message Services (SMS) to mobile phones about imaginary abductions”.

The Defence spokesman denied charges made against the Government adding that certain politicians tried to put the blame on the Government for the abductions. “In fact, we met Muslim community leaders and businessmen at a mosque but no one was abducted in Colombo except a person in Kandy”, Minister Rambukwella said.

“This is all a conspiracy to accuse the government of violating human rights in Sri Lanka.

The drama was staged at the same time the hearing was on in Brussels of the Sri Lanka delegations in the European Parliament”, the Minister remarked.

The Minister said the aim of these elements was to create panic in society. “Some are trying to create a fear psychosis and trying to create tension among the public”, he added.

The Government also appointed a special team to investigate the killings of the two Red Cross staffers last week.

“We cannot reveal the progress of the investigations as it would hamper the investigation process. The government is taking maximum counter action to prevent any such incidents in the future and the President directed to finalise the investigations within two weeks”, the Minister said.