19 January 2010 07:06 am
Speaking to the media today, JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said that the former Prime Minister of Thailand; who was deposed in a military coup, had arrived on the 12th of December on board a private plane and left on the 13th of last month.
Amarasinghe accused the government of attempting to damage the diplomatic relations between the two countries, especially as Shinawatra had links to both Kumaran Pathmanathan and the LTTE.
Meanwhile Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama rejected claims by the JVP that ousted Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra had aided in the Election campaign of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“What the leader of the JVP Somawansa Amerasinghe has stated of Mr. Thaksin Shinwatra contributing to the campaign of President Mahinda Rajapaksa or any type of association with the President is a complete falsehood and I reject it completely,” Bogollagama told Daily Mirror Online.
The Foreign Minister asserted that this was another attempt to mar the name of the President and adversely influence the relationship between Sri Lanka and Thailand.
“Thus I consider this to be another attempt by the JVP to bring disrepute to the high office of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and also to influence the cordial relationship between Thailand and Sri Lanka by casting such accusations and creating a distorted version of matters,” he said.
When questioned as to whether the Minister was aware of Mr. Shinwatra’s visit to the island on the 12th and 13th December as alleged by the JVP the Minister stated that no invitation had been extended to Mr. Shinwatra on a state level. “I as the Foreign Minister say with great responsibility that no invitation was extended to Mr. Shinwatra on the level of the President, the Government or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Bogollagama said.
Thaksin's flight details