The Army said it has noted that certain interested parties giving misleading and concocted interpretations and propagating baseless, unfounded and provocative allegations are attempting to discredit and tarnish the image of the Army as well as its dedicated members serving across the Island.
“As evident in the past few days, different interested elements and groups with vested interests are poised to insult the troops and speculate alleging that the troops are about to “ cause violence”, “under training to assault protests”, etc. which are completely false, fabricated and baseless. As clearly seen, not a single trooper has to-date got involved in any of those tense situations,” the Army said in a statement issued yesterday.
“Those malicious reports, largely in Cyberspace also speak of corruption in a hospital due to their mere ignorance and lack of knowledge of Army Tender procedures and well-structured and stipulated Advisory Boards of the Army, claim that the organization has resorted to “corruption in a hospital”, a ridiculous allegation which is rejected outright by the Army as appalling and irrational,” the statement added.
The Army said troops as everyone witnessed in the past few days, have not at all interfered with any of those peaceful protesters or organizations, nor have they acted against the interests of the State as disciplined members of an organization which brought peace to this country through immense and invaluable sacrifices. “The Army very strongly and categorically deny those sinister moves and flatly reject those attempts, meant to bring disrepute to this organization and simultaneously urge the civic-conscious and right-minded citizens of this country to place the full confidence in the troops as in the past because serving troops remain more trained, professionally-qualified and well-suited to take on any security challenge, in this scenario, only if the Police call the Army to assist them”.
“Similarly, well-formulated and structured training modules in all camps continue unabated as part of military training and this is nothing new or a preparation for violence as announced by some interested elements in the media. In view of these developments, the public is therefore urged not to be provoked or misled by those planned machinations and treacherous gestures as the Army is assuredly committed to safeguard the State and its people round the clock in conformity with the provisions in the Constitution,” the Army said.
No plans to unleash military on peaceful protesters – Defence Secretary
Secretary of Defence General (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne emphasised that there are no plans to abuse military power by unleashing it on peaceful protesters. He was responding to the Facebook note of Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka addressing the Secretary of Defence and Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army.
Issuing a media release the Ministry of Defence said that the military forces will not be deployed to suppress democratically held peaceful protests. However, the military will assist the Police if only such assistance is sought by the Police to defend the nation, uphold the Constitution and restore peace and order among all Sri Lankans in the event of a violent uprising.
The Secretary of Defence informing the public that the Sri Lankan Armed Forces who love the country and the people are a morally upright force further states that there is no truth in the rumours circulating on social media about an idea to send members of the intelligence services to the peaceful protesters and use them to disperse the protesters or to provoke them through something like a bomb blast.
The Ministry whilst pointing out the various elements that are working to achieve their ulterior motives during the peaceful protests wishes to inform the public that appropriate legal measures will be instituted by the Police against those who destroy or damage public property and/or the private property under the pretext of peaceful protests.
The Secretary of Defence together with Tri-Forces Commanders reiterated their commitment to acting in a fair and impartial manner with integrity and respect stating that the Tri-Forces and the Police will responsibly do their utmost to protect the Rule of Law, order and the people of the country in accordance with the Constitution.
courtesy dailynews
