Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament today (Oct. 9) that legal action will be taken against a parliamentarian who allegedly released false information regarding remarks that were not made during a recent session of the Parliamentary Committee on High Posts.
Minister Herath said that no member of the committee has the ethical right to disclose internal discussions to the media. He warned that spreading unverified information undermines parliamentary procedures and national interests.
“A complaint has already been lodged with the Criminal Investigation Department regarding this matter. The law will be strictly enforced against both those who spread the misinformation and those who provided it to the media,” he said.
Herath further clarified that at no point did Secretary Ravi Seneviratne state that the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks were carried out at the behest of India or that the mastermind was linked to India.
“This is a completely false narrative intended to damage the strong diplomatic relations built by this government,” he said.
“There was no mention of India—no country was mentioned. Yet, a completely incorrect and reckless news report was created by a member of the committee. This sets a dangerous precedent. We will take the maximum possible legal action. Members have no ethical right to release committee discussions to the media. If there’s real understanding of the responsibility we hold, that confidentiality must be respected. Sharing this kind of information with the media is unethical and unlawful,” Herath said. (Newswire)