Having visited Gnanasara Thera who is serving a jail term on charges of contempt of court, Gunaratne spoke to the media thereafter.
“Gnanasara Thera had requested that he wanted to meet me and I too wanted to meet him and that is why I came to visit him. Gnanasara Thera is intently following the country’s security situation. He said we must not think of these incidents lightly as this is a very serious programme and wanted to speak with the President. He noted that this operation should be done wisely.”
''Innocent Muslims are not to blame''
“Gnanasara Thera said that the innocent Muslim people are not to blame for these incidents. Therefore he requested that these operations must be carried out without harassing or harming the innocent Muslim people in a very intricate manner. He urged the government to carry out these investigations very carefully.
His view is that any place could be the target. Not just the churches and temples, but they could target any establishment.
Although the courts found him guilty and put him behind bars, today the people have begun to realise that his theories regarding these extremists have been proven. Hence, we need to use the information provided by Gnanasara Thera and engage in an operation to protect every community in this country in a manner that would not incite any racial or religious clashes.
“Gnanasara’s theories have been justified”
I feel that Gnanasara Thera’s knowledge on this complex issue should be made use of by the security forces in order to bring the situation under control.
We did not give priority to the theories expressed by Gnanasara Thera and neither did we take his warnings seriously. No one expected this issue to arise in this country. However, with the recent spate of incidents, the warnings and theories expressed by Gnanasara Thera have received great significance.”
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