A response to ‘Ranil’s private visit’

I refer to Mr. Ruwan Fernando’s letter titled ‘Ranil’s private visit’ which appeared in your edition of 21 June. Mr. T. Mallawathanthri has in his rejoinder of 28 June ridiculed all the aspersions cast upon the PM by Ruwan Fernando.

In addition to the persons that Mr. Mallawathanthri mentions the Prime Minister met, the PM also met with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Holland while in New York.  

Mr. Guterres had warmly welcomed the Prime Minister and expressed his deep appreciation for his presence at the historic Oceans Conference held at the United Nations. The PM outlined the national reconciliation process taking place in Sri Lanka under the four broad pillars of Truth, Justice, Reparations and Non-recurrence. He further explained the constitutional reform process and legal and other measures being taken relating to reconciliation. The Secretary General assured the Prime Minister that his office is at Sri Lanka’s disposal in this regard and that “the UN agenda is the success of Sri Lanka.”

Ms. Holland held discussions on a wide range of issues relating to Sri Lanka’s relations with the Commonwealth and other matters of mutual interest.  

The PM set the rescue operation in motion while in the US and thereafter everything was coordinated by the Secretary to the PM. The PM directed the Central Bank to make finances available to enable affected people to recommence their businesses and carry on with their lives. He also visited the flood affected areas and walked around the villages where no one questioned him.

All countries should ensure that the Heads of Governments, Prime Ministers and Ministers are medically fit and they should do their medical checkups in places with the best facilities. For instance, Nawaz Shariff and Sonia Gandhi went to London recently for treatment. Our Heads of State and Prime Ministers have done so in the past, especially when some of the facilities are not available here. You never ran articles earlier when President Rajapaksa went to Texas and PM D.M. Jayaratne went to Singapore. Why only in this instance? There is only one explanation. The writer is known to the Daily FT. This type of article should never have appeared.

The general view of the business community and others is that this article was a personal attack on the PM and unbecoming of a newspaper such as the Daily FT to which I have been a subscriber from the very first day it came out. People are wondering if this article is in retaliation to the remarks made by the PM where he compared the Daily FT to toilet paper for incorrect reporting.

Three CNN Editors have resigned after a fake story on Trump-Russia ties. The management has decided in future that any Russia stories should be vetted by two Editors. This would be a good procedure to be adopted by the Sri Lankan media, which has been shackled for almost a decade and is now enjoying the freedom of the wild ass.

I trust you will be kind enough to publish this letter in its entirety.

Yours faithfully, 

C. Ramachandra

Editor’s Note:

Daily FT objectively endeavours to provide a platform for expression of different views including multiple views praising the current leaders and administration.