Saturday, 31 August 2013 00:03
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Confusion reigned yesterday about two conflicting media releases from the Presidential spokesman and International Media Unit about the President’s meeting with UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay, which provided separate versions of comments made by President Rajapaksa in the English and Sinhala languages.
In the English version of the release issued at about 7 p.m. yesterday, the Media Unit said President Mahinda Rajapaksa had told the visiting UN Envoy that many people in Sri Lanka believed the UN was biased in its treatment of countries.
The English statement said that the President had reportedly told those who expressed such concerns to him, not to prejudge High Commissioner Pillay’s report on Sri Lanka. In a completely different twist, the Sinhala version of the statement the Media Unit said the President told Pillay most Sri Lankans believed the UN was a destructive organisation and that her report would be full of prejudgments on Sri Lanka.
Daily FT contacted Presidential Spokesman Mohan Samaranayake who acknowledged the discrepancy and assured the English statement was being amended for re-release. Samaranayake told Daily FT that the Sinhala version of the document prevails and could be used for publication.
