GL says Palestine didn’t fault SL stand

6 August 2014 10:08 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 15 Bookmark

CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA Follow

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External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris told Parliament yesterday that Palestine had never raised any concern with Sri Lanka on its stand regarding the situation in the Gaza strip.

He made this observation in response to allegations by the Opposition that the government had taken a timid approach without criticising Israel’s aggression which was taking a heavy toll of human lives in the Gaza strip. The Opposition charged that, though the government boasted of espousing the cause of Palestine, it didn’t.

The minister said he had met the Palestinian ambassador a couple of days ago. “The Palestine ambassador never raised any concern about Sri Lanka’s stand,” he said.

In reference to the Opposition criticism, he said it looked like an attempt to fish in trouble waters.

Responding to the Opposition’s criticism of the local panel probing the cases of missing persons and disappearances, he said the government was never opposed to a local mechanism.

“We were opposed only to an international investigation. We will not kneel down before any powerful nation and compromise the national interests. During the last stage of the war, the foreign ministers of Britain and France arrived in Sri Lanka and asked the government to stop the military operations forthwith. However, we did not do it. By the time of their visit, the president was in Embiliptiya. The president, in fact, asked them to come to Embilipitiya to see him. He even told then British Foreign Minister David Miliband that Sri Lanka was no longer their colony,” the minister said.

Responding to the allegation about the politicisation of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service, he said one could not totally rule out the services rendered by those non-career diplomats.

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake moved this motion on the performance of the ministry, and charged that its dismal performance and the politicisation of the foreign service had led to the present crisis confronting Sri Lanka in the international arena.

Mr. Dissanayake also said the government had to tender an unqualified apology to India over a derogatory article, accompanying graphic images of its Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jeyaram.

The minister replied that laymen were bound to make mistakes, but this incident had not led to a diplomatic row between the two countries despite the Opposition expecting such a crisis to embarrass the government. (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)