PM briefs foreign envoys

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe meeting foreign envoys at Temple Trees yesterday

• Envoys assure speedy revision of advisories

By Chathuri Dissanayake 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday appraised foreign envoys in the country on Sri Lanka’s security situation with aims to reverse the travel advisories issued. 

The briefing chaired by Wickremesinghe was conducted with over 40 envoys in attendance.   Following a full security briefing, updating on the current situation with details of the arrests made, the envoys have responded positively to requests made by the Foreign Ministry Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha to revise the travel advisories. 

“The envoys responded positively to the briefing. One envoy representing one of the main tourist sending countries in fact assured that they have been monitoring the security situation on a day to day basis and said they will be able to reverse the adverse advisories sooner than expected,” a source privy to the proceedings of the meeting told Daily FT. 

The Chinese Government has already revised the travel ban to exercise caution. The Tourism Ministry and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau have also made representations to individual envoys to brief them on the security situation to ensure that travel advisories are appropriately revised. 

The diplomats also raised a number of other concerns with the Prime Minister, including the release of Gnanasara Thero, who was serving a six-year jail term for Contempt of Court. 

Wickremesinghe had explained that the Government has refrained from interfering in the court process which took action against the Thero’s unruly behaviour amounting to Contempt during a court session.   The Prime Minister notes that the decision to pardon was taken by the President, exercising the Executive powers, a source present at the meeting said. However, the court cases against Gnanasara Thero for hate speech are still ongoing and the court process will be followed.  

“We will monitor him and if he behaves in a problematic manner again, we will institute action again,” the Prime Minister had told the diplomats. 

The nearly two-hour long briefing was carried out with the participation of State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene, and representatives from both Army and Police.