The Sri Lankan government said the actions of the United States could seriously hamper reconciliation efforts, rejecting the US embassy statement made on July 28, expressing concern over the lack of press freedom.
"Given the sensitivities involved when the country is going through a sensitive process of national reconciliation, restrictively targeting a specific group of people from a particular community or region can lead to a perpetuation of mistrust among communities, seriously hampering reconciliation efforts," Sri Lanka's External Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Thursday, Colombo Page reported.
"The US Embassy appears to be selectively upholding these fundamental principles in Sri Lanka, depending on who is exercising the right, whereas such protests have been taking place all over the world, including in the USA, and on numerous occasions organized by extremist elements against the Sri Lankan State," the Ministry said.
"If the Embassy had expressed concern about the reports of intimidation of media personnel the Ministry would have expected the sharing of specific details of such intimidation and harassment in the spirit of constructive engagement, without making judgmental statements based on erroneous and biased information," the statement added.
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