Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa has said Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK Chris Nonis should have acted with restraint if there was an assault, as claimed by certain media reports.

However, the Minister has said he was not in a position to comment on the accuracy of media repors. The Minister, who was also the Cabinet Spokesman at one point, made these remarks addressing a public meeting in Pannala – his electorate.

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“If there was an incident like that, the High Commissioner should have acted with restraint,” Yapa said.

When asked by journalists on actions the government has taken over the incident, the Minister staed that he was unaware of the matter. However, it is learnt that President Rajapaksa has sent a special envoy to London to discuss with Dr. Nonis over his “resignation”.

Speaking to a Sri Lankan news channel on Friday, Dr. Nonis confirmed that he has resigned from his pposition as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in the United Kingdom. “Everyone knows what happened. I can’t comment on the matter as a diplomat,” Dr. Nonis told Sri Lankan media while confirming the incident.

Meanwhile, a spokesman from the Ministry of External Affairs told reporters in Colombo on Friday that the ministry has not received a letter of resignation from Dr. Chris nonis, so far. The reporters who spoke to the Ministry tweeted that the Minister and the Deputy Minister were not available to comment on the matter.

  Sajin Vaas Gunawardena, the ruling party member who was accused of assaulting Nonis, is the Monitoring MP of the Ministry of External Affairs.