4:16 PM

Sri Lanka Cabinet Minister leads ‘Death to America’ Demonstration

When a senior Cabinet Minister of Sri Lanka Government leads a demonstration calling for the demise of the United States in front of the American Embassy in Colombo the U.S. State Department, the foreign policy and foreign relations arm of the U.S. Government, seriously considers it an expression of the Sri Lanka government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The report of the demonstration received here in the State Department describes the organization Sri Lanka Palestinian Solidarity Association as a group that has been associated with Rajapaksa for more than thirty years.

In fact, the Colombo American Embassy will not fail to report that the organization is headed by Mr. Rajapaksa who is currently the country’s president. 'Death to America' protest rally recently held in Colombo'Death to America' protest rally recently held in Colombo

If the American Mission reports that the Cabinet Minister attended and led the demonstration with the concurrence of President Rajapaksa, it is a total misinterpretation but such interpretations cannot be avoided.

On the other hand, if the demonstration was not given patronage by a Rajapaksa government minister the State Department here wouldn’t have taken it very serious.

The minister who participated and led the ‘Death to America” demonstration was Labor Minister Athauda Seneviratne.

The American Embassy report of the demonstration calling for the demise of the United States arrives at Washington State Department at a time another senior minister of Sri Lanka Prof. G.L.Peiris is here, as the emissary of Rajapaksa, to engage in negotiations with American officials to maintain and extend the concessions of GSP when he told the AFP news service "and to cut off resources, to threaten to withdraw trade benefits, GSP (General System of Preference) and so on -- all of that is unhelpful because that will only mean the dissemination of poverty, deprivation and adversity.”

0 comments: