The Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism in Colombo has announced the position of the Government of Sri Lanka with regard to the UK sanctions recently imposed on 04 Sri Lankans including 03 military commanders. “The Ministry wishes to underline that this is a unilateral action taken by the UK government which involves an asset freeze and travel ban on the individuals concerned. Such unilateral actions by countries do not assist but serve to complicate the national reconciliation process underway in Sri Lanka,” the statement issued by the MFA notes.
“The government is in the process of strengthening domestic mechanisms on accountability and reconciliation and any past human rights violations should be dealt with through domestic accountability mechanisms,” it adds.
“The position of the Government of Sri Lanka was conveyed by Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath to the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Andrew Patrick, today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment & Tourism, the statement further notes.
The complete MFA statement is shown below.
Earlier this week, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office announced sanctions against 03 former Sri Lankan commanders and an ex–Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) commander.
Those sanctioned include:
– Former Head of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, General Shavendra Silva
– Former Navy Commander, Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda
– Former Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, General Jagath Jayasuriya
– Former military commander of the LTTE – Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan
