The National People’s Power (NPP) said that the blacklisting of retired Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha was illegal.

Speaking at a press conference held at the JVP Headoffice last morning (22), NPP member Harshana Nanayakkara said Mr. Thuyacontha had been blacklisted by the Air Force without providing any legal document.

He said that the National People’s Power recently decided to form a collective of retired tri-forces personnel. 

“No party has been able to do this in the past. This is being made as a force across the districts. Mr.Thuyacontha is leading this. He is one of the people who risked his life as a fighter pilot throughout the war and was awarded the ‘Vikramaveera’ and ‘Vibhushana’ titles. For his dedication, he was awarded the highest rank of Air Vice Marshal and retired amidst all the honours,”

“If someone is being punished, they should be given the reasons as to why they are being punished. Was Mr. Thuyacontha told why he was blacklisted? He does not even know what the charge is. He has been blacklisted by an invalid document,” he said.

“Thuyacontha blacklisted to maintain internal administrative affairs”

Director (Media) of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), Group Captain Dushan Wijesinghe said that the decision to blacklist Thuyacontha was taken with the aim of maintaining the internal administrative affairs without any political interruption.

Speaking to the media, he said that Thuyacontha cannot enter any of the SLAF camps and enjoy the facilities given by the SLAF. 

“Any retired officer of the SLAF can engage in active politics. But, the situation is very different when it comes to this matter. This officer enjoys all the facilities given by the SLAF. He can enter any SLAF camps as a result of this facilitation of privileges. Therefore, it will create a problem in the internal administration of the SLAF if this officer tries to influence our serving members after entering the camps,” he said.