COLOMBO : Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne said that the speech he had made during an opening ceremony of the Vavuniya Kachcheri Auditorium had been distorted and misinterpreted tarnishing his integrity and reputation.
Certain media reports had been published claiming that the Defence Secretary had praised former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen during this event. However, convening a media briefing at the Defence Ministry yesterday (05), the Defence Secretary said that certain parts of his speech had been selected and coined making it look as if he was praising Bathiudeen. “I was invited to make a speech and during my speech I did not praise Bathiudeen but I did praise the services rendered by Mrs. P.S.M. Charles (Current Northern Governor) while she was the Vavuniya AG. The only statement I made about Bathiudeen was that he was the Resettlement Minister at the time. Other than that I never said a word about him. But, I did mention that Mrs. Charles had been a great source of strength to me during difficult times on behalf of the state mechanism. However, what this certain media institution has done is coin two parts of my speech, omitting parts of my speech and making it sound as if I was praising the former minister.”