{"id":98772,"date":"2013-08-05T16:57:36","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T11:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=98772"},"modified":"2013-08-11T01:14:25","modified_gmt":"2013-08-10T19:44:25","slug":"bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/","title":{"rendered":"BBS Categorically Rejects And Denies “I Sent Troops To Weliweriya\u201d Story By Ceylon Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Bodu Bala Sena categorically rejects and denies \u00a0the news headline \u00a0“I sent troops \u00a0to Weliweriya\u201d\u00a0published on 5 August 2013 by CeylonToday Newspaper and it\u2019s websites\u00a0www.ceylontoday.lk\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0www.mawbima.lk\u00a0\u00a0owned by Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Ltd. (CNL) of No. 101, Rosmead Place, Colombo 7. It clearly gives the impression that \u00a0Secretary General of Bodu Bala Sena , Ven Galagodaaththe Gnanasara<\/a><\/span> Thero\u00a0\u00a0had sent troops to Weliweriya” says\u00a0Dilanthe Withanage<\/a><\/span> \u2013 Chief Executive Officer- Bodu Bala Sena Headquarters.<\/p>\n

“Bodu Bala Sena would like to highlight that this news is a result of the conspiracy to tarnish the image of the Sri Lankan Government, Ministry of Defence and the Security Forces locally and internationally. We have the evidence of attempts by \u201cMawubima\u201d newspaper on earlier occasions to destroy the good image and credibility of Bodu Bala Sena and the New National Movement.” he further said.<\/p>\n

A Special Press Conference will be held at 10 am on 6th<\/sup>\u00a0August 2013 ( Tuesday) at the Bodu Bala Sena Office, Thunmulla to expose this conspiracy , he added.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Ceylon Today reported;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

I sent troops to Weliweriya<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

By Ashan ParanahewaGeneral Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera, said it was under his guidance that the Defence Ministry deployed military troops to Weliweriya last Thursday.<\/span>\u201cIt was I who sent them there after observing the situation in the area. Though the demand by the villagers was extremely justifiable when observing the situation, I figured that things could turn bad as the villagers were politically misled by a group.\u00a0<\/span>The protest they were planning to hold was not properly guided or organized. Therefore, I contacted the officials of the Ministry of Defence and emphasized the need to beef up security in the area,\u201d Ven. Thera said.<\/span>He made this statement when Ceylon Today contacted him, querying why the BBS failed to intervene in the issue faced by the people of Rathupaswala, whose supply of drinking water had been contaminated with chemical disposals from a factory in the locality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI called the officials and told them about the problem. In fact, I said that this is a serious issue and the matter should be resolved without delay as parties with vested political interests could blow the issue out of proportion. Only those who do not have a clue about what we are doing would ask why we are being silent while the people are suffering,\u201d Gnanasara Thera said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He however acknowledged the fact that, area residents were shot by the military personnel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf the residents behaved accordingly and attempted to negotiate politely, things would not have turned this bad. They provoked the military personnel and we can\u2019t blame the military entirely for the situation,\u201d he added, while at the same time, expressing his dismay on the final outcome of\u00a0 the events related to the incident.<\/p>\n

The protest led by the villagers of Weliweriya and the surrounding areas last Thursday resulted in the area turning into a mini battle field.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":81721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nBBS Categorically Rejects And Denies "I Sent Troops To Weliweriya\u201d Story By Ceylon Today - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BBS Categorically Rejects And Denies "I Sent Troops To Weliweriya\u201d Story By Ceylon Today - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-05T11:27:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-08-10T19:44:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/galaboda-atte-gnanasara1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"496\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"673\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/\",\"name\":\"BBS Categorically Rejects And Denies \\\"I Sent Troops To Weliweriya\u201d Story By Ceylon Today - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/galaboda-atte-gnanasara1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-05T11:27:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-10T19:44:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/galaboda-atte-gnanasara1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/galaboda-atte-gnanasara1.jpg\",\"width\":\"496\",\"height\":\"673\",\"caption\":\"Gnanasara\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BBS Categorically Rejects And Denies “I Sent Troops To Weliweriya\u201d Story By Ceylon Today\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BBS Categorically Rejects And Denies \"I Sent Troops To Weliweriya\u201d Story By Ceylon Today - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BBS Categorically Rejects And Denies \"I Sent Troops To Weliweriya\u201d Story By Ceylon Today - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2013-08-05T11:27:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-08-10T19:44:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":496,"height":673,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/galaboda-atte-gnanasara1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/","name":"BBS Categorically Rejects And Denies \"I Sent Troops To Weliweriya\u201d Story By Ceylon Today - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/galaboda-atte-gnanasara1.jpg","datePublished":"2013-08-05T11:27:36+00:00","dateModified":"2013-08-10T19:44:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/galaboda-atte-gnanasara1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/galaboda-atte-gnanasara1.jpg","width":"496","height":"673","caption":"Gnanasara"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-categorically-rejects-and-denies-i-sent-troops-to-weliweriya-story-by-ceylon-today\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BBS Categorically Rejects And Denies “I Sent Troops To Weliweriya\u201d Story By Ceylon Today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/galaboda-atte-gnanasara1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98772"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98786,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98772\/revisions\/98786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}