‘Tell Gota to shut up, or else we’ll be done for’ – Lalith’s message to president!
Friday, 24 January 2014
“We don’t need leaders. We know how to deal with our problems. We do not need American advice on how to solve them. I said that to the US ambassador to her face,” said Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at a meeting yesterday (23) with religious, political and society leaders and area’s military chiefs in Batticaloa to the big applause of ‘patriotic patriots’, and the ‘patriotic’ media reported it as the ‘best remark of the year.’ By now, ‘Gotabhaya Chinthanaya’ has been widely commended than the ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ by the ‘patriots.’That may be so in Sri Lanka, but secretary to the president Lalith Weeratunga and the ‘nominal’ external affairs minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, who are presently in the US on a goodwill tour, are faced with a serious plight as a result of the defence secretary’s remarks, according to diplomatic sources. Early this week, the president’s secretary was in Geneva, Switzerland to explain in detail to the UN human rights chief Navi Pillai and other officials regarding the progress made so far in connection with the implementation of the LLRC recommendations. The image of Sri Lanka, which is being rebuilt by much effort by persons like Lalith Weeratunga, G.L. Peiris and Ravinatha Aryasinha, has become null and void due to just one idiotic remark by Gotabhaya.
Saddened by this development, the president’s secretary has telephoned the president and said, “Sir, tell the defence secretary to keep his mouth shut at least till the end of March. He undoes by 10 words what we achieve with much difficulty.” After comprehending the situation, the president has told those nearby, “There are several governments within my government. That is the problem.” Anyhow, the president has not condemned the defence secretary’s ‘patriotic statement.’ He is of the view that Sri Lanka will definitely be overwhelmed at Geneva, and it was better to go for a tit-for-tat diplomacy than accepting defeat silently.
Sanjeewa Bandara released on two personal bails
January 24, 2014 3:34 pm Convener of the Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF), Sanjeewa Bandara, was released on two personal bails worth Rs 100,000 today.
He was charged with organizing a protest, which caused a road block from Pettah to Fort on 8 November 2013.
