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Sri Lanka police force acting under President Sirisena's orders

The Sri Lankan police force follows the orders of the Sri Lankan president, the force’s top chief has said, as the country’s political crisis over who is the rightful Prime Minister continues.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara made the comments at a media briefing at the police headquarters in Colombo. He said that Sri Lanka Police would operate according to the gazette notification issued by President Maithripala Sirisena.

In response to the incident of the UNP or former Law and Order minister Ranjith Maddumabandara submitting a written request to provide more security to ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the IGP said he could not do so and explained:

“The UNP MPs handed over a letter requesting to reinstate their security personnel as before. But the President had appointed a new Prime Minister and new Ministers.

“In line with new appointments, we have already provided required security personnel for the Prime Minister, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, State Ministers and Parliamentarians according to the IGP provision of the Police circular issued on 2015-11-09.

“Therefore the Police could not act on the request of the MP Ranjith Maddumabandara.”

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