By Shamindra Ferdinando in The Island, Sept 28, 2023
Chairman of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on National Security, Rear Admiral (retd.) Sarath Weerasekera has told Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena that the US should not deny a visa to an MP nominated by the Sri Lankan Parliament to join an official delegation unless he/she posed a threat to US interests.
In a letter dated 25 Sept., 2023, the former Public Security Minister has informed Speaker Abeywardena the issuance of visas was the prerogative of the US mission, but the issue of the US Embassy insisting that he be replaced with a member of a minority community must be taken up.
Of the Chairpersons of 17 Oversight Committees chosen for a 10-day study tour of the US organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and USAID, later next month, only Weerasekera has been denied a visa.
Declaring that he had B1 (business) and B2 US visa (tourism) or combination of the two, Rear Adm. Weerasekera said that he had no special interest or reason to join the delegation but it was wrong for the US Embassy to deny him a visa.
The MP has said that he will seek an explanation from Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardena in this regard. “In my capacity as Chairman of the Oversight Committee on National Security, I intend to call a meeting with Secretary Defence and Armed Forces chiefs to discuss this matter,” MP Weerasekera said.
Weerasekera retired in late 2006 after having served the Navy with an unblemished record for well over three decades.
Responding to another query, the former Minister said that the Parliament had been asked by the US Embassy to name another member of his committee, representing a minority community for the programme.
https://island.lk/national-security-oversight-comm-chief-denied-us-visa/#google_vignette
- SRI LANKA SCENE – 2/EASTER ATTACKS –
C4 documentary makers admit absence of evidence to support Maulana’s claims
report in The Island, Sept 28, 2023
The makers of British television network Channel 4’s documentary on the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka have admitted that they did not have credible evidence to support the claims made by Azad Maulana, the self-proclaimed ‘whistleblower’ who made serious allegations about the complicity of state officials, including the then Minister Counsellor in the Sri Lankan mission in Malaysia Suresh Sallay of the Army.
This came to light during a recent event in Geneva, attended by the documentary’s Director Thom Walker and Executive Producer Ben de Pear, news agencies reported.
On 06 Sept., C 4 aired a controversial documentary containing startling accusations relating to the bombings on Easter Sunday 2019 which targeted several Catholic churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. The carnage claimed the lives of more than 260 people and left hundreds of others wounded.
Channel 4’s latest ‘Dispatches’ investigation titled ‘Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings’ is a nearly 50-minute-long video with serious, yet straightforward allegations about the attacks. It was based on the testimonies of high-placed whistleblowers who alleged that senior governmental officials were complicit in this heinous act.
The main ‘whistleblower’, Hanzeer Azad Maulana was a spokesman for LTTE’s breakaway group Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP) led by current State Minister of Rural Road Development Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan.
According to the documentary, Maulana had witnessed a meeting in Puttalam in 2018, between the suicide bombers and a top Sri Lankan intelligence officer, which was aimed at hatching a plot to create insecurity in the country to pave the way for former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the presidential election later in 2019.
However, the founder of UK-based documentary production company Basement Films, Walker, has said he does not have any evidence of a prior meeting between Zahran Hashim and Suresh Sallay.
Walker added that he did not know if Maulana had had direct contact with Zahran. He said he had no evidence of any prior meeting between Zahran and Sallay. Walker also mentioned that he did not know if Sallay had necessarily attended the said meeting.
https://island.lk/c4-documentary-makers-admit-absence-of-evidence-to-support-ma
