PM reveals incidents before house was set on fire

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today revealed some of the incidents that took place before his private residence was set on fire on Saturday.

He also said that the fire destroyed several valuable books and paintings.

Wickremesinghe said that the books were to be donated to Royal College and the Peradeniya University.

The Prime Minister said that he and his wife had left the house hours before mobs had arrived and protested outside.

He said the Police had made an appeal for him to leave the house before the mobs arrived.

Wickremesinghe said that this was his only house and that he had no other property overseas or in Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister said that before the house was set on fire he had attended a meeting with party leaders to discuss the crisis in the country.

He said that at the meeting while the consensus was that the President must step down, the opposition wanted the Prime Minister to also resign at the same time.

Wickremesinghe said that he had proposed that an All-Party Government be formed first following the resignation of the President and after that they can pick a new President.

He said that Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader Rauff Hakeem had then tweeted saying the PM refused to step down.

Wickremesinghe said that Sirasa TV gave a lot of publicity to the tweet and that was also later picked up by some other media.

The Prime Minister said that he had clarified his position saying he was ready to step down after an All-Party Government was formed.

However, he said Sirasa TV continued to misreport what he had said.

He said that he had contacted the management of the TV station and urged them not to continue reporting in such a manner as that could result in his house being attacked.

“However, they did not listen,” the Prime Minister said.

Eventually, he said that his house was attacked and set on fire.

The Prime Minister also noted that important documents at the President’s House and Presidential Secretariat have been destroyed.

Wickremesinghe said that he will work according to the Constitution and that no one, not even Parliament can go beyond the Constitution. (Colombo Gazette)