BY Pamodi Waravita
UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and Minister of State (Minister for South and Central Asia, the UN, and the Commonwealth) Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, who is presently on an official visit to Sri Lanka, is due to meet a number of high officials, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“Ahmad was scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris last (18) evening. He will also be meeting the President and the Prime Minister,” an official government source told The Morning yesterday.
Ahmad Tweeted on last Saturday (15) that he is “looking forward to meeting government, business, and civil society leaders” during his visit to Sri Lanka, to discuss a wide range of issues such as the environment, economic recovery, education, trade and investment, and human rights.
His Tweets show that he has also attended events at the British High Commission in Colombo and the British Council, Sri Lanka, yesterday.
Ahmad had earlier raised a number of concerns about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. He has reportedly met Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Spokesman and Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) Parliamentarian President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran in November 2021, during the latter’s visit to the UK.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea/South Korea Park Byeong-seug is expected to visit Sri Lanka next week.
Human rights-focused Lord Tariq Ahmad to meet President
19 Jan 2022
Human rights-focused Lord Tariq Ahmad to meet President
19 Jan 2022