Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe lashed out at the island’s media institutions on Saturday, accusing them of attempting to revive the LTTE.
Addressing the 20th anniversary of the Muslim Media Forum, ColomboPage reported Mr Wickremesinghe as stating the “biggest threat to media freedom in Sri Lanka is media itself” during a speech in which he pulled out copies of Sri Lankan newspapers The Island and Divayina to criticise them.
Mr Wickremesinghe went on to criticise reports of the LTTE regrouping by referencing the ancient Sinhalese ruler Dutugemunu who defeated the Tamil king Ellalan in battle, telling the audience,
“I myself wondered if we are going to face the LTTE again and if King Dutugemunu will be needed”.
He also “asserted that there was no room for terrorism to raise its head again in Sri Lanka,” according to Colombo Gazette.
However, Mr Wickremesinghe added a caveat, stating that if such a revival did take place “then former President Mahinda Rajapaksa must be blamed for not completely eradicating terrorism”.
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