Ranil says Nepal operation a first; Wimal says no

28 April 2015 03:32 pm

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerawansa are reported to have had a heated argument in Parliament today.

It resulted from the Prime Ministers statement that the deployment of the emergency response team to Nepal was the first such mission undertaken by the Sri Lanka Military outside the country.

Mr. Weerawansa asserted that a similar military contingent under the command of Rear Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda was deployed for relief work in the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan and as such the deployment in Nepal was not the first time that such a relief operation was undertaken overseas.

“I wish to correct the Prime Minister on this matter," he said.
However, Mr. Wickremesinghe shot back saying that this was the first occasion that the Sri Lanka military had flown in an Air force plane and as such this could be construed as the first such exercise.

He said for the relief mission to Japan no military aircraft was used.

"We did it soon after the disaster. By the time I contacted Nepali Prime Minister Susil Koirala he was stuck at the Bangkok Airport," he said and added that Mr. Karannagoda appeared to have lied to Mr. Weeranwasa.

“He has told a lot of lies which we will deal with in the future," Mr. Wickremesinghe said.(Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)