Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has doubled down on a directive issued to players not to ‘take the knee’ in support of the Black Lives Matter, despite several other sports team routinely making the gesture including in the current T20 Cricket World Cup.

“It has been a long standing position of SLC that the players don’t participate in this gesture, and they have honoured that directive to date,” an SLC official told the Daily Mirror. “We expect that the players will continue honour that even beyond the World Cup.”

No further explanation has been given as to why the team will not be taking the knee. In the current tournament, players from several teams including South Africa, England, the West Indies and even India have been seen taking the knee before matches. The gesture has been replicated by sports men and women around the world in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Sri Lanka’s cricket captain Dasun Shanaka however reportedly said, “We’re not hoping to take any special stance because in Sri Lanka we live in harmony and as a team also, we have a strong bond amongst each other”.

His comments come as Sri Lanka however continues to face turmoil, with Tamil families of the disappeared in the North-East still protesting over the whereabouts of their loved ones, whilst the Sri Lankan state has continued to refuse to engage in any international justice or accountability mechanisms. Sri Lanka’s president also announced this that Sinhala Buddhist monk who was previously convicted over threats made to a disappearances activist and is notorious for his hate speech was to head a Presidential Task Force focused on achieving “One Country One Law”.