Brig. Priyankara Fernando watching the demonstrators
President Maithripala Sirisena has reinstated the defence attaché of Sri Lankan High Commission in London who was earlier suspended over a controversial video which went viral on social media.
In a statement, Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said Minister Counsellor (Defence) Brigadier Priyankara Fernando was suspended after a video showing him making the sign of throat-slashing with a finger and pointing to the national flag on his uniform when a group of Tamils demonstrated opposite the High Commission in London. The incident happened on February 4 which was the 70th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence from Britain in 1948.
In an earlier video Brig. Fernando was seen answering questions posed by another group of protestors in the street while the British police were keeping a close eye.
The incident on February 4 triggered a massive social media reaction with many Sinhalese supporting the officer’s action drawing parallels with Vijitha Rohana Wijemuni, who attacked late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with a rifle in 1987.
The Sri Lankan army rejected the calls for the military officer to be suspended, stating ‘they cannot remove the official merely because of a social media video’. “He is back at work but there will be an inquiry,” army spokesman Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake said.
Brigadier Fernando, according to the army, “rendered an immense service as the commanding officer of the 11th Gemunu Watch to rescue villagers in Mullaitivu and elsewhere during the Wanni humanitarian operation.”
There were reports saying that the officer was helping in the resettlement of the war-affected, with images of him attending religious and school functions in the company of other dignitaries in Jaffna circulating on social media.
According to another Facebook post, Brig. Fernando had been suspended earlier under the former regime of Mahinda Rajapakse after he asked a singer who was close to the earlier government to leave an army camp which was under his command.
The incident that happened on February 4 in London has led to mounting calls from rights groups and UK parliamentarians for the officer to be withdrawn and expelled. British parliamentarians from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils have called for the expulsion of the Sri Lankan military official, according to Tamil Guardian. MPs Joan Ryan and Siobhain McDonagh wrote a letter to the British Foreign Secretary stating that the official, behaved in ‘an obvious attempt to intimidate the Tamil people who were present’.
A Buddhist monk representing a religious association handed over a letter to the foreign ministry in Colombo asking to reinstate the brigadier. He said the officer in his action had tried to imply that is what happens to anyone who is trying to follow the path of Prabhakaran, referring to late Vellupillai Prabakaran who led the Liberation of Tamil Tigers of Ealam (LTTE).
The members of Motherland of War Heroes demonstrated asking for the reinstatement of the officer. One protestor said that Brig. Fernando’s miming was not aimed at innocent Tamils, but at the ‘terrorists’ and the members of the diaspora.
Sri Lankan politicians who are in the midst of a heated campaign for the local government elections to be held within a few days, expressed varying opinions.
Former president Mahinda Rajapakse who is credited with ending the war said: “If I run my finger across my neck does it mean that I am going to cut your throat? How can an army official be suspended for scratching his neck and pointing to the national flag. Do we have to run the country according to the wishes of the diaspora?”
Minister of Science and Technology Susil Premjayanth said if the Tamil can carry their flags in England ‘we also have the right to carry our national flag. Perhaps, Brig. Fernando would have shown the flag on his uniform since he had no flag to carry.’
Former minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the military officer dedicated his whole life to serve the army. “His daughter died of dengue fever and the brigadier even could not come to see his child when she was ill”.
State Finance Minister Eran Wickremaratne said incidents like this should not be politicized. Port Services Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe criticized the foreign ministry for suspending the officer without a proper inquiry.
MP Vijitha Herath of the JVP (Peoples’ Liberation Front) did not comment on the incident directly and said that the government should also concentrate on prosecuting people involved in corruption scandals, referring to an alleged multi-million-dollar bond scam at the Central Bank.
Minister Harin Fernando said he would also do something like what the army officer did if he happens to face protestors like that. “It is natural that there can be some opposition to his action as he represents the government as an official.”
People who were interviewed on Colombo streets had mixed views. Some said since he was an army officer and a representative of the state he could have been more disciplined. Some described him as a hero and that he must have done it on the spur of the moment and it was wrong on the part of the ministry to suspend him. Another person asked why the Sri Lankan High Commission staff and other Sinhalese were not carrying flags to celebrate the nation’s independence.
Tamil Guardian web site says that the United Nations OHCHR Investigation into Sri Lanka detailed multiple incidents, implicating the 59 Division in the shelling of hospitals south of Mullaitivu.
“Brigadier Fernando was clearly active in the final offensive in the north of Sri Lanka from at least April 2008 – and on those grounds alone should have been subjected to a scrupulous vetting process by both the Government of Sri Lanka and the UK which should have precluded his diplomatic appointment to London,” said the website quoting a briefing note released by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) and the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP).
