The presence of certain controversial individuals in the close proximity of President Maithripala Sirisena on few occasions during his historic State visit to Germany kept the atmosphere heated among the Sri Lankan delegation even though the actual Berlin remained as low as 100 - 70 Celsius.
The President and the Lankan delegation arrived in Berlin by Qatar Airways QR 77 flight on 16 February 2016 at around 6:45 in the evening and were received by Karunatilaka Amunugama, Sri Lanka's Ambassador in Berlin and Jürgen Christian Mertens, Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.
He was later accorded a grand State welcome replete with a guard of honour by the German tri-forces under the auspices of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
While many claim this was the first time in 43 years, a Sri Lanka's Head of State was visiting Germany in an official capacity, it is evident, President Sirisena was the third Lankan Leader to visit Germany on an official invitation in almost half a century.
On 10 September 1974, world's first woman Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike undertook a visit to West Germany at the invitation of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
The focal issue during her visit was the energy crisis in the world and its impact on developing countries. The two leaders held extensive discussions on the matter, in addition to the enhancement of bilateral relations.
Incidentally, after her, the first Sri Lankan leader to visit Germany was her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga in her capacity as the President of the country and that too was, after a lapse of 27 years, in 2001.
During her visit, President Kumaratunga briefed German leaders on the ongoing peace process at the time, apart from signing bilateral agreements to promote German investments in Sri Lanka.
According to media reports, at the time of her visit from 12 to 16 March 2001, Germany accorded her military honours on arrival and departure, playing of the national anthems, residence at Adlon Hotel – the historic State Guest Palace and included witnessing German opera.
It was also categorized as one of the successful visits spearheaded by the then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar as Germany pledged to persuade the European Union to proscribe the terrorist outfit LTTE, and make the fund-raising activities of the LTTE diaspora illegal.
On the other hand, President Sirisena visited Germany at a time the world's perspective on Sri Lanka is on a positive note, despite a resolution being passed at the UNHRC on alleged war crimes at the end of the war.
While the Sri Lankan Government took measures to lift the ban on certain NGOs which were branded as pro-LTTE outfits, it was able to get the ban re-imposed on the LTTE after the General Court of the European Union decided to lift the ban on the LTTE on procedural grounds in October 2014.
President Sirisena's visit to Germany would have an effect on the tireless efforts by pro-LTTE diaspora to get the ban lifted once again.
Even though, a proposal to set up a BMW plant here and make Sri Lanka its South Asian hub failed to materialize due to the terrorist menace during President Kumaratunga's visit, the new proposal to locate a Volkswagen plant in Sri Lanka is expected to give a boost to Sri Lanka's industrial sector, if realized in the future.
The people to people relationship between Sri Lanka and Germany is remarkable with Germany having more than 60,000 Sri Lankan expatriates and with over 50,000 German tourists arriving in Sri Lanka each year.
Surprise guests
On the second day of President Sirisena's visit to Germany, everyone in the Sri Lankan delegation was surprised to see the presence of two individuals at the lobby of Berlin Marriott Hotel.
Many eyebrows were raised when it was recognized, as to who they were, and this led to several ministers and officials in the delegation look for the reasons for the presence of these surprise guests. They were none other than the President of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) Rev. Dr. S.J. Emmanuel and its spokesperson Suren Surenthiran.
Initially, the members of the delegation were unable to find as to why they were present in the hotel where the Sri Lankan President was or whether they had arrived at the invitation of the President.
The inquisitive delegates, however, were made aware that President Sirisena or his staff had no clue about the two individuals as he was not expecting them for talks. Later on, it was revealed that the two were present at the hotel to meet Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on his invitation.
Father Emmanuel who is 82 years old now, in an interview with Sudar Oli newspaper in 2015 had said accountability is an unavoidable step from truth and justice towards reconciliation. "Without accountability one cannot move towards true reconciliation. Justice demands, first of all, justice for the victims still left after the war. Those who think of achieving reconciliation through a blanket covering of the past, or fear in facing the truth of the tragedies of the past are escapists, but not sincere and courageous people seeking genuine reconciliation. Pope Francis during his visit also explained that seeking accountability is not for the purpose of opening old wounds and hurting, but courageously doing what is demanded by justice," he said.
Father Emmanuel who is now retired from active church work in the diocese of Münster in Germany was in self-exile, since 1997.
Meanwhile, soon after President Sirisena expressed his opposition to international involvement in ensuring justice for war crimes and human rights abuses committed by both parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka in an interview with the BBC, the GTF issuing a statement said they were deeply concerned and disappointed by his (President's) remarks.
In turning his back on Sri Lanka's commitments to the victims of abuse and the international community being concerned about accountability only months after these commitments were made, President Sirisena will lose the trust of the Tamil community, which began to believe that Sri Lanka in fact had turned the corner, where public promises and pledges are made to be kept and faithfully acted upon, the press statement stated.
In this context, many questioned whether this move to invite them to Berlin Marriot without properly informing President Sirisena amounts to a breach of his security.
However, Rev. Emmanuel is expected to make a visit to Sri Lanka in the near future.
Palali extension in trouble
Steps to expand the Palali Airport seem to end in limbo with Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran up in arms against the renovations.
Wigneswaran has already conveyed his concerns to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe when the matter came up at Jaffna District Development Committee meeting.
Renovation activities were apparently to go ahead with the assistance of India and ironically after the Northern Provincial Council adopted a resolution, calling for the operation of direct flights from Palali to the southern States of India in February 2014.
Wigneswaran in March 2015 said: "Though we are very happy that an area of 1,000 acres is being handed over, it must be recorded here that we have asked for at least 5,500 acres to be returned. Around 6,500 acres of land have been arbitrarily taken over by the Army in the Valikamam North area only since the end of the war in 2009 and not returned. These are mostly fertile agricultural lands to which the owners have proper deeds. I pointed out to the Hon. Minister the other day in Colombo that a maximum of 1,000 acres is all what the Army needs to protect Palali Air Port and KKS Port. Anything more is excess land arbitrarily retained. The balance 5,500 acres can be returned to their lawful owners."
The Hindu newspaper meanwhile quoted Northern Education Minister Thambyrajah Gurukularajah as saying that the Palali airport expansion might 'adversely affect' the interests of the fishing community living close to a nearby fisheries harbour.
However, according to sources the activities at the Myliddi Fisheries Harbour had ceased for several years now and several Northern politicians including Vijeyakala Maheswaran were lobbying to reopen activities at the harbour, but the government remains tight-lipped over the matter.
According to the Security Forces, reopening activities at Myliddi Fisheries Harbour could pose serious security threats to the Palali Airport.
To hell with MR
Out of 1,437 SLFP members in the local government bodies, 1,401 had attended a meeting held in Negombo recently to call upon President Sirisena to hand over the SLFP leadership to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
They had resolved to demand that an SLFP-led government be formed and a senior member of the SLFP be appointed Prime Minster. Another resolution passed at the meeting was to ask the party to withdraw disciplinary charges against the SLFP members supportive of the Joint Opposition.
They said there will be no break-up of the SLFP if the incumbent President agreed to do so. The Local Government members insist that a new party be founded unless their demands were granted.
What caught the attention of many at the meeting were the remarks made by representatives from Polonnaruwa.
"Recently, President Sirisena called us all for a meeting and asked whether we are willing to go to heaven with him under Yahapalanaya or want to let Mahinda Rajapaksa drag us to hell with him. We are determined to be with Rajapaksa even if it meant hell. We have enough time for an election campaign. People will certainly rally around us to defeat the UNP if former President Rajapaksa is appointed the SLFP Leader," they said.
Birthday boy
Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake turned 53 on Friday 19 February. It was the day Austrian President hosted a State banquet for President Sirisena and the Sri Lankan delegation at the Hofburg Palace, the former Imperial Palace in Vienna and when Karunanayake entered the premises he was in for a pleasant surprise as he was wished for his birthday with song 'Happy Birthday to you..." playing in the background.
Karunanayake speaking at the investor seminar organized by the Austrian Chamber of Economy afterwards said, "everybody who insists that we have a five star democracy please do come and invest with us now".
This investor seminar, which was held under the patronage of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, had an overwhelming response from the Austrian business community.
Rajitha falls sick
Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne who complained of a chest pain on Thursday and was under medical surveillance in Colombo for 24-hours was airlifted to Mt. Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore upon his family's request.
Though, it went viral in cyberspace that he is in critical condition, his personal doctor, under whose observation it was diagnosed said, there was a minor matter in two valves of his heart, and confirmed to the family members that the Minister's condition was not serious.
However, upon the family's request President Sirisena who called to check his colleague's situation from Austria directed authorities to make necessary arrangements to send him to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore for further medical observation.
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