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Government’s drama has boomeranged on itself: Patali Champika Ranawaka

19 Sep 2021

  • SJB MP Patali Champika Ranawaka accuses Govt. of political witch-hunts and smear campaigns
By Dinitha Rathnayake The dramas staged by the Government have, not unlike a boomerang, come back to hit itself, and the Government has now started staging new dramas to cover them up, charged Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Patali Champika Ranawaka. The country is facing several economic woes and issues due to the pandemic, and has also collapsed on the international front, he claimed, alleging that the Government is attempting to divert the opposition of the people by “staging cheap dramas again”. Commenting on a video aired by certain government and private media that was used to allege a conspiracy between himself and certain Catholic priests, MP Ranawaka said that the video, published on his own Facebook page, was a discussion between the priests and himself, and that there was no conspiracy in that. “If it was a conspiracy, why would I publish it online?” he questioned. The above matter was a political witch-hunt against some priests, he charged. “I was the first to author a book in 2001 warning that religious extremism was occurring through Wahabism. That means I warned about that. We all admit it. We all know that there are people with such extremist ideologies in this larger Muslim society, and the majority of that Muslim society does not endorse that. So we have absolutely no need to cover that up,” he claimed. “It was not us who said that there was a conspiracy to defame the past Government and to bring this incumbent Government to power, that there are masterminds, and that justice would be served to the victims of the Easter attacks. But not a single new suspect has been arrested other than those arrested during the Yahapalanaya Government. Even the US has filed lawsuits against this for two years. But we haven’t filed legal cases until now. The Government has not taken any steps to solve who was behind the attacks. Actually, certain politicians in the Eastern Province who had supported Zahran are voting in Parliament together with the Government. We will be able to see this at the upcoming Provincial Council Election too. It is very clear that the Government is covering up this process.” Ranawaka also noted he had expressed his ideas openly before the Commission of the Defence Ministry in Parliament. “We gave an important witness. It is the responsibility of the CID and the Attorney General to investigate it. The Attorney General said that this was a conspiracy; then he should be the first to be questioned. It is extremely ugly how they summon different other people for interrogations from time to time without doing that. This is a clear political witch-hunt.” Ranawaka claimed that the relevant witness statements consisted of several pages, and has not been presented to the public as of yet, adding that only one of 23 volumes have been issued. He also urged the Government to disclose these witness statements and to launch an investigation into them, adding that engaging in political mud-slinging is a dangerous crime, and warning the Government that it would be a major mistake if it aimed to fool society by doing so. Ranawaka alleged that the Government is on the one hand carrying out a process to instigate the hatred of Buddhists against the Catholics, including the Archbishop, and on the other hand, spreading rumours that there is an internal conflict in the Catholic Church, while also claiming that some form of suppression is underway, targeted towards young Catholic activists and priests. He further urged the Government to cease such efforts and to embark on a journey with the support of everyone to resolve the economic and international problems faced by the country.


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