Sri Lanka’s defence secretary raised eyebrows this week as he attempted to defend the State Intelligence Service Director Suresh Sallay by claiming that as he cannot speak Tamil or Arabic, “he does not have extremist views”.
Speaking at a press conference this week Kamal Gunaratne, who stands accused of war crimes, told reports, “Sallay is a Muslim name, but as far as I know he is not involved in such matters”.
“He cannot even speak a word in Tamil, nor can he speak in Arabic. He has not read the Quran, he is married to a Buddhist. If I am not mistaken he has two children, both of them have Sinhalese names. Therefore he does not have extremist views.”
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According to EconomyNext, Gunaratne added, Sallay “was an asset to the country and the “jaaythiya” (race)... Sallay was performing a ”bodi pooja” at the “Uda maluwa” of Anuradhapura (Sri Maha Bodhi) when Gunaratne went there during the opening of the Sandahiru Seya temple recently.”
In the same press conference, Gunaratne went on to claim that Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was not the “mastermind” behind the Easter Sunday attacks that saw hundreds killed in attacks on churches and hotels in 2019.
“There are lot of allegations on social media that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the main mastermind of the Easter attacks,” he continued. “There is no truth in those allegations. It is a despicable attempt at making political gains”