External
Affairs Minister G.L Peries said the statements made by the visiting Canadian Minister Jason Kenney were “biased and unbalanced”.
“Sri Lankan Government will not conduct its affairs in a way that suits the domestic politics of another country. The government will act in the best interest of our people,” he said.
Minister Kenney, who met Minister Peries on Sunday, said the domestic issues in Sri Lanka were causing an influx of asylum seekers to Canada and Australia.
“This is not at all a balanced view. We are aware of the large Tamil expatriate community in Canada and the visiting minister has drawn this conclusion based on information by people with a partisan political agenda,” Minister Peries said.
He said the Canadian Minister had been briefed on the ongoing process of political reconciliation and government talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
“He has not based his comments on the information provided to him by the government but instead has made a baseless allegation, which we will like him to substantiate with answers to the question: What are these individuals running away from,” Minister Peries said.
He said as recently as December 4, the government had approached the TNA for talks. However the date was deemed inconvenient by the TNA.
“We will discuss matters with the TNA and later within the Parliamentary Select Committee where all political parties will be allowed to express their views. This information was not taken into account by the visiting minister who has not taken adequate account of the views of the government,” Minister Peries said.
(Dianne Silva)
Source: Daily Mirror (8th January 2012)
