The All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) today expressed its dismay and astonishment with regard to the ‘malicious comments’ made by Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe against the party’s newly appointed National List MP Dr. Ismail.

M.S.M. Ismail was appointed last Thursday (June 7) as a UNP National List MP for the seat allocated to the ACMC, filling the vacancy of M.H.M. Navavi who had recently stepped down. 

The following day Minister of Higher Education & Cultural Affairs, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, launched a scathing attack on the newly appointed MP and informed the Parliament that Ismail, who was the former Vice Chancellor of the South Eastern University, is facing a long list of charges which are currently being investigated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

According to the Minister, the former Vice Chancellor is alleged to have misused funds allocated to the South Eastern University and the facts were revealed before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).

Issuing a statement today, the ACMC said that the tarnishing comments made by Rajapakshe last Friday (June 8) at the inaugural oath taking ceremony of the newly appointed UNP MP is highly  deplorable.

“Ignoring the very fact that it was customary to welcome the newly appointed  MP with greeting  during his  oath taking ceremony, contrary to this noble practice, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe burst out at and  criticized the former Vice chancellor M.S.M. Ismail, which was highly unparliamentarily and uncivilized behaviour, that tantamount to a character assassination of Dr. Ismail.”    

Secretary General of ACMC, S. Subairdeen, said that the minister has tarnished the impeccable sanctity of the August assembly of the Sri Lankan Parliament. 

“It is a basic legal maxim that ‘A person is presumed innocent until he is proved guilty’. Notwithstanding this fact and being a legal luminary, Rajapakshe should have taken precautions, avoided those yet unproved allegations,” the statement said. 

He stated that the minister was also once confronted with charges at the court of law and that in this context no one can construe that Rajapakshe was guilty unless and until he was proved to be guilty. 

“Therefore the verbal attack on Dr. Ismail by Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was detestable and uncalled for,” he said.