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This was the image on
the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website. It has since been removed
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Article published without appropriate
authorisation, says Sri Lankan Defence Ministry Following controversy over an article critical of Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and an accompanying graphic published on its
website, Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry issued an “unqualified apology” on
Friday.
“The article which had been published without appropriate
authorisation and not reflecting any official position of the Government of Sri
Lanka or Ministry of Defence and Urban Development has since been removed. We
extend an unqualified apology to the Hon. Prime Minister of India and Hon Chief
Minister of Tamil Nadu,” said the statement on the home page of the Defence
Ministry’s official website.
The article was published on the Defence Ministry website,
accompanied by a graphic representation of Mr. Modi and Ms. Jayalalithaa. “It
was a lapse of editorial judgment on the part of the officer who was in-charge.
We take full responsibility for it and deeply regret it,” Army spokesperson
Ruwan Wanigasooriya told The Hindu.
Terming the visual "inappropriate", he said: "We
are not a newspaper, we are a government website. This is totally
unacceptable."
The views of the writer Shenali D. Waduge, a regular columnist
with the state-run Daily News in Colombo, did not reflect the views of
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, or of the government, he said. “We have
enormous respect for heads of state,” Mr. Wanigasooriya said.
The piece, critical of Tamil Nadu fishermen and of claims made by
Tamil Nadu to Kachchatheevu, comes at a time when fishermen of both countries
are expressing serious concern over the absence of a sustainable solution to
the Palk Bay crisis.
Updated:
August 01, 2014 18:11 IST
This was the image on
the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website. It has since been removed
New Delhi: Sri Lanka has apologised
to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for
a controversial article and depiction of the two leaders on the official
website of its defence ministry.
In an "unqualified apology", the Lankan government said the article was published "without proper authorization. The article doesn't reflect our government's official position."
The statement came after Ms Jayalalithaa wrote to PM Modi urging him to summon the Lankan envoy and seek an apology for the article on the Lankan Defence Ministry website titled "How Meaningful Are Jayalalithaa's Love Letters to Narendra Modi". It had a morphed image of the Chief Minister and Mr Modi in a heart-shaped thought bubble.
"The visual is objectionable as it depicts the PM and CM in a derogatory manner. It also attempts to cause fissures within India's federal politics," said the Chief Minister.
The article, which threatened to snowball into a diplomatic row, has now been removed.
Though it came with a disclaimer, the article has touched a raw nerve among parties who bristled at Mr Modi's invitation to Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to his swearing in ceremony in May.
Regional parties in Tamil Nadu accuse Mr Rajapaksa of presiding over the killing of civilians in the final stages of the war against the Tamil separatist outfit LTTE. It is a political minefield in the state where assembly elections are due in 2016.
Mr Modi's ally PMK said the article was in poor taste. "They degrade Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. The Centre should demand an apology from the Lankan president and Defence Secretary. India should call the Lankan High Commissioner," PMK Chief Ramadoss raged.
The opposition Congress also called for an apology.
In an "unqualified apology", the Lankan government said the article was published "without proper authorization. The article doesn't reflect our government's official position."
The statement came after Ms Jayalalithaa wrote to PM Modi urging him to summon the Lankan envoy and seek an apology for the article on the Lankan Defence Ministry website titled "How Meaningful Are Jayalalithaa's Love Letters to Narendra Modi". It had a morphed image of the Chief Minister and Mr Modi in a heart-shaped thought bubble.
"The visual is objectionable as it depicts the PM and CM in a derogatory manner. It also attempts to cause fissures within India's federal politics," said the Chief Minister.
The article, which threatened to snowball into a diplomatic row, has now been removed.
Though it came with a disclaimer, the article has touched a raw nerve among parties who bristled at Mr Modi's invitation to Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to his swearing in ceremony in May.
Regional parties in Tamil Nadu accuse Mr Rajapaksa of presiding over the killing of civilians in the final stages of the war against the Tamil separatist outfit LTTE. It is a political minefield in the state where assembly elections are due in 2016.
Mr Modi's ally PMK said the article was in poor taste. "They degrade Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. The Centre should demand an apology from the Lankan president and Defence Secretary. India should call the Lankan High Commissioner," PMK Chief Ramadoss raged.
The opposition Congress also called for an apology.
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