The wife of legendary artiste and doyen of Sri Lankan cinema, Dr. Lester James Peries, Sumithra Peries yesterday noted that responsible political leaders should avoid using doctored pictures just because they are available on websites.

Jathika Hela Urulaya Leader Champika Ranwaka who publicised the picture concerned, had said that he had downloaded this picture from a website, and he cannot vouch for its authenticity. She was commenting on a picture in which her husband and incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa appeared had been doctored to show that the President was with a former LTTEer Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP.

This picture was originally taken at our home. My husband’s picture has been doctored cleverly to appear as KP,” she said.

It is sad to note that the picture was used by a former minister, and he is none other than the Minister of Technology. If he was the Minister of Technology, he should have been able to identify that the picture was doctored at a glance,” she said.

This has affected my husband’s health. Needless to say that this has affected the President. Ten years ago Dr. Peries would have taken something like this. I must say that the artiste is disturbed by this at his age. He is most concerned about it,” she said.

Those who gave this picture, should take the responsibility for using it. This is unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” Mrs Peries pointed out. I learned about this doctored picture at a press conference held by artistes at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute where senior artistes such as Malini Fonseka and Ravindra Randeniya were present. It was organized by the Tower Hall Foundation, Dr. Carlo Fonseka was also present,”she said.

Asked what she knows about the doctored picture, she said, it is displayed in one of those Tamil Diaspora websites. This site is in the German language. There are pictures of KP on this site and the doctored picture was among them.”