Don’t bully us says President

President Mahinda Rajapksa says some countries should stop bullying Sri Lanka just because its a small country.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera the President said that fingers are always pointed at the government when there is an incident but yet when similar incidents occur in the West it is seen as something isolated. He insisted that there is democracy in Sri Lanka and that the country is not run as a family business as claimed by some. The President also said he does not agree with most of what was said by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay in her oral report on Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. “She has always been unhappy with us,” the President said. Asked about concerns raised by Pillay on the alleged statements made by government members targeting her before and after her recent visit to Sri Lanka, the President said that as a democracy anyone has a right to say anything. The President also said that Pillay had not raised most of the concerns mentioned in her oral report when she met him during her Sri Lanka visit. He said if there are concerns then those concerns should be backed with evidence in order for it to be investigated. The President also said that the government has a right to maintain an army presence in the North but disputed the figures on the number of troops some groups claim are operating in the North.