Wimal questions JVP’s deafening silence over CIA Chief’s visit

Chairman of the Uththara Lanka Sabhagaya (ULS) Wimal Weerawnsa, MP, has questioned the failure on the part of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to protest against the recent clandestine visit here by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director, William Joseph Burns.

The Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP) leader, Weerawansa, said that at the time he represented the JVP, the party always took the lead in taking up issues which undermined national security.

The former JVP parliamentary group leader Weerawansa asked whether the incumbent JVP leadership changed its stance on the US after having received a good character certificate from US Ambassador Julie Chung.

The JNP leader was referring to Ambassador Chung meeting JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, MP, and Vijitha Herath, MP, on 14 May, 2022.

Lawmaker Weerawansa responded to questions raised by the media, following a ULS’s leadership council meeting.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU), a constituent party of ULS, has raised the CIA Chief’s visit with the Immigration and Emigration Department, which comes under the purview of the Public Security Ministry.

MP Weerawansa said that the JVP owed an explanation why it refrained from commenting on the CIA Director’s visit. The former JVPer pointed out that the US embassy has declined to either confirm or deny the development, whereas the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government, too, has remained silent.

Burns is alleged to have arrived in Colombo, on 14 Feb., with a large delegation, in two massive cargo aircraft, and left the following day.

MP Weerawansa alleged that the JVP remained quite clearly silent on Western machinations, pertaining to the continuing political-economic-social crisis here. (SF)