• US Envoy slams ‘outright lies and fiction’ in a MP’s book



The Ministry of Defence stated that Opposition Parliamentarian and National Freedom Front Leader Wimal Weerawansa’s allegation that Chief of Defence Staff and former Army Commander, General Shavendra Silva’s visit to India in July 2022, is suspicious in a context where the first plan of the protests on 9 May 2022, was to allegedly assassinate the  then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the defence heads at the President’s House, is baseless. 

The Deputy National Security Advisor Level Meeting of the Colombo Security Conclave, a security conference organised between friendly countries in the South Indian Ocean region, was held in India on 7 July 2022. The Ministry emphasised that under the directions and approval of Rajapaksa and the Ministry, Silva had participated in the meeting representing the Government.

Appearing in a television programme on a private channel, Journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama quoting from the speech made by Weerawansa at the launching ceremony of his book “Nine: The Hidden Story”, had alleged that the first plan by those behind the protests on 9 May 2022, was to assassinate Rajapaksa and the defence heads inside the President’s House and that Silva’s visit to India, therefore aroused suspicion.

Accordingly, the Ministry further emphasised that the above statement is baseless as Silva was on an official visit to India in July 2022, to attend the Meeting of the Colombo Security Conclave with the approval of then President Rajapaksa and the Ministry.

Meanwhile, United States (US) Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung has expressed her disappointment over recent allegations levelled against the US by a Sri Lankan MP in his latest publication. Taking to Twitter, Chung deemed the allegations “baseless” and accused the MP of spreading “outright lies in a book that should be labelled ‘fiction’”. “For 75 years, the US and Sri Lanka have shared commitments to democracy, sovereignty and prosperity – a partnership and future we continue to build together,” she said, vehemently denying all allegations supposedly made by the MP. Chung’s Tweet is likely in reference to the book recently launched by Weerawansa in which he directed various allegations towards the US with regard to certain controversies surrounding the Rajapaksa regime, and the public unrest which occurred in 2022.