PILLAY’S REQUEST TO REMOVE D.S. SENANAYAKE STATUE WAS GOVT. LIE - UNP

September 17, 2013 

The UNP today (September 17) claimed that the government had lied about UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay’s request to remove the statue of D.S. Senanayake from the Independence Square in Colombo.

UNP denied the media reports of this request while stating that a Spokesperson for Pillay had confirmed that no such request had been made.

UNP General Secretary MP Tissa Attanayake stated at a press conference today that the UNP os handling the statue of Sri Lanka’s first Prime Minister placed at the Independence Square and requested the government not to poke its fingers into the matter.

Recent media reports suggested that Navi Pillay had made the request to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at a meeting during her visit to Sri Lanka.

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe had subsequently written a letter to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights in order to clarify the report.

Attanayake also stated that the government was running a dictatorship while hiding behind the label of democracy and added that Sri Lanka has fallen into the list of most corrupt nations in the world. He also pointed out that the largest consignment of drugs in South Asia was found in Sri Lanka and claimed that the country had become a hub for drugs during the Rajapaksa government’s rule.