Author: TELO Admin

The US has categorised another senior military official, Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera, who was Sri Lanka’s Deputy High Commissioner in Malaysia (2009-2011) as a war crimes suspect.

The wartime Director of Operations, Perera, has been denied entry to the US recently although he has a five-year multiple entry visa issued in August 2019.

Well informed sources told The Island Maj. Gen. Perera had been informed of the US decision after he, along with his wife and his teenage son, on the night of 05 Dec., proceeded to the immigration counter to board the Colombo-Singapore Singapore Airline flight.

Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera has successfully followed top military courses in NDU (National Defence University in 2004) and USAWC (United States Army War College in 2012) and is a frequent traveller.

Having cleared the Perera family, the Singaporean Airline staff at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) told him that they had received an alert from US authorities.

From Singapore, they were to fly to Los Angeles. Sources said that Maj. Perera stayed back while his wife and son went ahead with the planned visit. The General and his wife were to see their first granddaughter born in California.

Sources questioned the rationale behind the US move as Maj. Gen Perera, having retired in 2017 had received a multiple entry visa two years later. The Maj. Gen. had attended his daughter’s wedding; she got married to a naturalized US national from Kerala in Sept. 2019. Sources said that it was not clear what prompted the US action three years after the issuance of multiple entry visa and 12 years after the successful conclusion of the war.

The US made its move several weeks after inducting former Army Commander General Mahesh Senanayake into the United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) International Hall of Fame at Fort Leavenworth. An alumnus of CGSC, Senanayake, who contested the 2019 presidential election has been conferred this honour in recognition of his “outstanding military leadership for the nation and commitment to preserving global peace. “

Sources said that about a week after blocking Maj. Gen. Perera, the US included two Sri Lankan military personnel in a list of officials prohibited to enter the US under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programmes Appropriation Act, 2021. The following is the relevant section of the U embassy statement:

• Chandana Hettiarachchi, a Sri Lankan naval intelligence officer, for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely, the flagrant denial of the right to liberty of at least eight “Trincomalee 11″ victims, from 2008 to 2009. Sunil Ratnayake, a former Staff Sergeant in the Sri Lanka Army, for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely the extrajudicial killings of at least eight Tamil villagers in December 2000. The designation of these two Sri Lankan individuals is not the only action we are taking in support of accountability for gross violations of human rights in Sri Lanka.”

However, the US embassy statement that dealt with the inclusion of two personnel conveniently refrained from making any reference to Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera.

Sources said that it was not clear whether the US has dealt with Maj. General Udaya Perera US under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programmes Appropriation Act, 2021.

This controversial law provides that in cases where there is credible information that officials of foreign governments have been involved in a gross violation of human rights or significant corruption, those individuals and their immediate family members are to be designated publicly or privately and are ineligible for entry into the United States.

In Feb. 2020, the US prohibited Army Commander General Shavendra Silva, who is also the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and his family from entering the US. In addition to them, Australia declined to allow Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne and Maj. General Chagie Gallage from entering Australia. The US denied visa to Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka more than once.

The Island learns that Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera has written to the US embassy in Colombo in this regard.

Sri Lanka is closing one embassy and two consulates, to save foreign exchange, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said as the country is facing forex shortages after an unprecedented bout of money printing.

The High Commission of Sri Lanka in Abuja/Nigeria, Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Frankfurt/Germany, Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Nicosia/Cyprus will be temporarily closed.

“The restructuring is undertaken with a view to conserving the country’s much needed foreign reserves and minimising expenditure related to maintenance of Sri Lanka’s Missions / Posts overseas, while ensuring the effective conduct of bilateral relations, in the backdrop of the grave economic challenges posed by the global pandemic,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Sri Lanka is facing severe foreign exchange shortages after printing over 1.5 trillion rupees to keep interest rates down and finance deficits by crippling bond auctions with price controls, over the past two years.

Bond auctions are now working and money is now printed to sterilize partial interventions in the forex markets to provide convertibility to a 200 to the US dollar peg on which credibility has been lost.

The functions of Sri Lanka’s Consulate General in Frankfurt, including trade, investment and tourism promotion, and consular matters of Sri Lankan nationals living and working around Frankfurt, will be handled by Sri Lanka’s Embassy in Berlin, Germany.

“The concurrent accreditation of Cyprus through the Sri Lanka Embassy in Rome, Italy will continue, with the latter handling Sri Lanka’s bilateral relations with Cyprus as per current practice,” the statement said.

“The consular functions handled by the Consulate General in Nicosia will be brought under the purview of the Sri Lanka Embassy in Rome.

A suitably qualified Honorary Consul based in Nicosia will be appointed to help 6000 odd Sri Lanka workers in Cyprus.

The letter to the Prime Minister of India has been finalized and may be signed on the 29th, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) spokesperson Suren Surendran said.

The letter prepared by the party leaders of the Tamil and Muslim parties to be sent to the Prime Minister of India has been finalised. Arrangements are being made for the leaders to sign on December 29 in Colombo.

On the 21st, party leaders of the Tamil-Muslim people gathered at the Global Tower Hotel in Colombo for the purpose of finalising the final draft of the demands to be sent to the Prime Minister of India.

The draft submitted by the TNA who attended the meeting was also considered. As no major differences were found between the two drafts, it was agreed to include the contents of the draft submitted by the TNA.

The leaders finalised the draft of the letter together in a discussion that evening. The revised draft with the items agreed upon was submitted to me by the leaders the next day.

All leaders are committed to achieving this goal on Tuesday (21) and to work together with dedication and resilience in the face of the massive political threats facing the Tamil-speaking people. ”

The three-day visit to the North last week by the Chinese embassy delegation led by Ambassador Qi Zhenhong and its various engagements there raised some concerns in diplomatic circles in Colombo. These questions came as the Government is now engaged in finalising a USD 1.9 billion worth economic ‘package’ with India.

Days after the delegation returned to Colombo, the Chinese embassy said following a request from Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, it handed over a donation of eight lifesaving Kidney Dialysis Machines worth Rs. 20 million to needy hospitals in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

A Northern Province Health Ministry official said the embassy could have handed over those machines to the hospitals during their visit to the North or directly to the Health Ministry or even to the President or Prime Minister as they used to do in past but surprisingly it had to be coordinated through the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s office.

“Or maybe they wanted to send a message?” he asked.