File photograph.
A Sri Lankan minister and member of the Rajapaksa regime has criticised the crackdown on social media platforms this morning, as cracks apparently begin to appear in Sri Lanka’s government.
Namal Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s Cabinet Minister of Youth and Sports and son of prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, criticised the decision made by his uncle president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to block a host of social media platforms on the island.
I will never condone the blocking of social media. The availability of VPN, just like I’m using now, makes such bans completely useless. I urge the authorities to think more progressively and reconsider this decision. #SocialMediaBanLK #SriLanka #lka
— Namal Rajapaksa (@RajapaksaNamal) April 3, 2022
“I will never condone the blocking of social media,” he tweeted this morning. “The availability of VPN, just like I’m using now, makes such bans completely useless. I urge the authorities to think more progressively and reconsider this decision.”
“Aren’t you the digital minister?,” questioned the Chairman of TV Derana Dilith Jayaweera, another long-standing Rajapaksa supporter. “Can’t you tell your uncle ?”
“I have already conveyed my objections,” replied Namal Rajapaksa, who is also the State Minister of Digital Technology. “However why don't you also talk to my uncle, your good friend?”
I have already conveyed my objections. However why don't you also talk to my uncle, your good friend? #????????????
— Namal Rajapaksa (@RajapaksaNamal) April 3, 2022
The conversation took place on Twitter, a platform that has been banned by Sri Lankan authorities since Saturday evening in the wake of anti-government protests that erupted last week.
"The social media block is temporary and imposed due to special instructions given by the Defence Ministry,” Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Chairman Jayantha de Silva told Reuters.
“It was imposed in the interests of the country and people to maintain calm," he claimed.
Since the ban was announced, the Chairperson of the Information and Communication Technology Agency Oshada Senanayake, stepped down from his post. Though he gave no specific reason for his resignation, he said that he “would vehemently stand by my principles and ethos I believe in”.
As Sri Lankan authorities continue to crack down on protests, the remarks from Namal Rajapaksa mark the first public signs of disagreement within the ruling Rajapaksa clan.
Namal’s father Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former Sri Lankan president and current prime minister, has made no public statement on the actions of his younger sibling, the current president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Both men stand credibly accused of committing war crimes during their previous tenure as president and defence secretary respectively when they oversaw a military campaign that killed tens of thousands of Tamils.
