Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday warned of an attempt to create religious and ethnic unrest in the country.
Rajapaksa warned his cabinet of the "plot" to create
unrest in the country, which ended a three-decade ethnic
conflict in May 2009 with the defeat of the separatist LTTE.
"President shared this intelligence information with his
cabinet to make those appropriate aware in order for them to
take preventive action," Keheliya Rambukwella, the minister of
information and the government spokesman said.
"The President wanted the cabinet to be aware of this
plot," Rambukwella said, ahead of Saturday's local council
election for 23 councils, including the capital Colombo's
municipality.
He said people with "a mob mentality" were fast spreading
baseless rumours with the intention of creating trouble.
He blamed news websites of carrying unverified and false
stories as part of this campaign.
Between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed in the
ethnic war between the military and the LTTE, which had sought
a separate state for the Sri Lankan Tamils, alleging
discrimination against the minority community at the hands of
the majority Sinhalas.
PTI
First Published: Friday, October 07, 2011, 21:45