The Opposition’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) expressed disapproval of the Government’s statement that two senior Police officers were appointed to top positions at the request of the Catholic community.
Referring to the statement made by Leader of the House Minister Bimal Rathnayake recently that Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Ravi Seneviratne and Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekara were appointed to positions where they can oversee investigations into the Easter Sunday terror attacks as per the request of the Catholic Church including Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, SLPP member Shantha Bandara stressed that such appointments should not be based merely on someone’s requests.
Addressing a media briefing, he said that while the SLPP does not oppose taking into account such requests, the Government has a responsibility to make such high-level appointments with transparency. Noting that officials who have gained public trust should be appointed to such positions, he added that the failure to do that would result in the Government losing public trust. “We respect the Cardinal. However, ruling a country is a different matter. We think that there should be a better understanding (on the part of the Government) about ruling the country, and that it should go beyond making decisions as well as appointments merely based on requests made by the Cardinal or someone else,” Bandara added.