Deployment report causes upset
2013-02-05 14:03
Colombo - Sri Lanka said on Tuesday it had rejected a US
request to send troops to Afghanistan but retracted the claim within hours,
triggering angry responses on social media about the government's credibility.
"President Mahinda Rajapakse has rejected a call by
US to send Lankan troops to Afghanistan," the government's information
department said in an SMS news alert that was immediately rebroadcast by almost
all local media outlets.
US diplomats in Colombo appeared puzzled over the Sri
Lankan government claim and privately said that there was no pending request.
A couple of hours later, presidential spokesperson Mohan
Samaranayake officially trashed the government's own claim.
"President Rajapakse has neither received nor
rejected any requests by the US for Lankan troops to be sent to
Afghanistan," he said in a brief one-paragraph statement.
President Rajapakse's own twitter account @PresRajapaksa
admonished journalists to "double check facts w/multiple sources" before
publishing and this drew sharp responses from Sri Lankan reporters.
"Are u saying we cant even 'TRUST' what the Govt
Info is saying through its SMS service. Who can we trust?" tweeted Gandhya
Senanayake.
"So MR [Mahinda Rajapakse] wants us to verify
official Gov info statements as well," tweeted Azzam Ameen.
"Journalists blamed not the Govt Info dept who created the blunder."
"How can the government information department make
such a blunder. We have published the story on ______. Darn," said another
Sri Lankan reporter.
Leaked US embassy cables had shown that Colombo expressed
willingness to send troops to train Afghan forces in March 2009. It later
changed its mind, fearing possible reprisals from foreign Islamic militants.
Relations between Sri Lanka and the US have been strained
as Washington pressed Colombo to probe alleged war crimes by its troops while
crushing Tamil separatists in May 2009.
