President Mahinda Rajapaksa stated that the government totally rejected the use of economic sanctions on countries branding them unjust because they harm innocent people and not the targeted parties.

The President held a twitter Q&A session today from New York under the hashtag #AskMR, answering a few questions put forward by the community and various media via twitter. The session was moderated by Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga.

Following a lengthy delay the session got under way with the President answering selected questions mostly on his visit to the US, his address at the UN General Assembly and other queries related to foreign affairs.

Answering the question put forward by Ada Derana on his opposition to economic sanctions, President Rajapaksa responded by tweeting “We reject sanctions totally. They are unjust because they harm not the people targeted, but other innocent people”.

The President however was not able to answer a follow up question regarding what other measures he would propose as an alternate mode of action that the UN could take against an uncooperative state.

President Rajapaksa also addressed a question regarding the issue of press freedom stating, “Have you ever read Sunday newspapers in SL? There are more than 25 TV channels which are privately owned”.

In addition to this, the President also tweeted that the government had a zero tolerance policy on sexual violence in conflict while claiming that the country had good bilateral relations with Iran and is trying to expand its external relations with Latin America as it is in Africa.

He also tackled a question regarding rising cyber bullying adding that Sri Lanka already has enough laws to deal with cyber crime and is monitoring the situation closely.