Defence Secy. Retd. General Kamal Gunaratne remark regarding inciteful statements by religious leaders Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s response

• In all fairness to me and the Venerable Mahanayaka Theras, I kindly request you to publish this clarification
• I categorically deny that the Mahanayaka Theras or I have made any statements that had incited the public at any time

Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith who responded to a remark made by Defence Secretary Retired General Kamal Gunaratne that religious leaders should not make any inciteful statements and published by Daily Mirror on May 12 2022, denied he and other religious leaders have made such statements. Following is the full statement sent by Cardinal Ranjith in this regard. 

My attention has been drawn to a news item on the first page of the Daily Mirror on May 12 2022 in which Defence Secretary Retired General Kamal Gunaratne is quoted to have urged religious leaders not to make inciteful statements in public. In the second page of the newspaper, it is mentioned that ‘General Gunaratne also requested the religious leaders including the Mahanayaka Theras and the Cardinal to consider the weight of their statements and urged them to refrain from making statements that would incite the public.  
In the first place I categorically deny that the Mahanayaka Theras or I have made any statements that had incited the public at any time. All that we did was to appeal for calm and for a just solution for the concerns of the people in the country, which Mr. Gunaratne may not be experiencing as they do. I do not have to mention how much of suffering has been heaped on the Sri Lankan population by the irresponsible heavy handed decisions made by the political leaders of this country during the past two to three years. The country is at a standstill and millions of people are suffering one way or the other due to silly policies of the government.  

With regard to inciting people, I would like to ask him ‘Who is it that really incited the people to violence on the 9th May by organising and allowing an unruly gang to violently attack peaceful protesters in two venues in which they were gathered? . He may wish to forget but the people will not forget the fact that a group of gangsters instigated by the speeches given by the Former Prime Minister and Ministers of his government led thousands of hooligans to go and attack innocent protesters who were only exercising their democratic right to protest which they did in a peaceful and controlled manner. All the violence unleashed in this country since May 9th was caused by the irresponsible behaviour of Prime Minister’s hooligans. This is the truth. Where was the efficiency of Mr. Gunaratne’s collaborators in preventing these unfortunate attacks? The religious leaders did not incite anyone. We have continued to appeal for calm and the settlement of outstanding issues faced by the people of this country. I deny that allegation totally and wish to inform Mr. Gunaratne not to hide the truth behind his desire to please his political master and to lay the blame on others.  

In all fairness to me and the Venerable Mahanayaka Theras, I kindly request you to publish this clarification with same prominence given in your esteemed newspaper.