Sampanthan corrects Daily FT opinion article by Dr. Sara Dissanayaka

Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan’s Media Secretary Raghu Balachandran has sent the following Statement with regard to  an Opinion article in Daily FT on Tuesday titled “Looking beyond the current political gridlock: Future of Tamil nationalist politics” by Dr. Sara Dissanayaka.

I respectfully invite your attention to the above-mentioned article that appeared in your paper on 20th February 2018. While the article contains several factually incorrect information, I would like to draw your attention to the following two statements mentioned by the author of the article.

1. “ For instance, the TNA leader R. Sampanthan called for the boycott of the 70th Independence Day celebrations, and at the same time, the Northern Provincial Council Chairman C.V.K. Sivagnanam openly expressed that the ban on the L TTE should be lifted within Sri Lanka.”

2. “Further, in the immediate aftermath of the incident involving the throat-slitting gesture of the Defence Attache in London, Sampanthan was quick to make a calculated move of joining the Eelamist bandwagon in demanding the British government declare the said individual a persona non grata” As the Media Secretary to Hon. Sampanthan, I want to bring to your notice that Hon Sampanthan has never issued such statements or made such comments as mentioned above by the author. I wish to place on record that the above statements are factually incorrect and wrong. I was also surprised to note that your paper accommodates columnist who writes such blatant lies without checking the factual accuracy of the statements.

These are malicious and untrue statements bring discredit to Hon Sampanthan’s profile,