Except for the High Commissioner Nihal Jayasinghe, Deputy High Commissioner P M Hamsa and the Foreign Minister Prof G L Pieris, all other speakers including the President spoke exclusively in Sinhala. The request by the Thesam.net editor T Jeyapalan at the outset for all the speakers to speak in English was disregarded by the High Commission. Following his request a Sinhala extremist in the audience screamed ‘Ado api okkama sinhala (You! We all are Sinhalese)’.
(December 04, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The hurriedly arranged meeting (2/12) to substitute the aborted Oxford Union speech of the President was held at the Sri Lanka High Commission. Key speaker at the meeting was the battered President Mahinda Rajapakse.
The meeting was held whilst the Tamil demonstrators gathered at both end of the Hyde Park Garden, where the High Commission is located. Heavy presence of the police prevented demonstrators reaching the High Commission. The police also gave special cover for the High Commission during the meeting. According to information, special unit of the Metropolitan Police had given personal security for the President.
Everyone attended the meeting was vetted, including body search by the police. Bus loads of Sinhalese campaigners who were planning to go for the aborted Oxford Union speech and demonstration in support of the President were brought to the High Commission to see the President.
In the unusual freezing cold weather, the Tamil campaigners were screaming that President Mahinda Rajapakse is a war criminal and were demanding justice for the war victims.
By the time the President arrived at the High Commission, more than three hundred special invitees had come to hear his speech. The High Commission had been careful to call the President’s party (SLFP) members, supporters and their friends for the event. They also invited carefully selected Tamils and Muslims numbering about ten persons for the meeting.
Except for the High Commissioner Nihal Jayasinghe, Deputy High Commissioner P M Hamsa and the Foreign Minister Prof G L Pieris, all other speakers including the President spoke exclusively in Sinhala. The request by the Thesam.net editor T Jeyapalan at the outset for all the speakers to speak in English was disregarded by the High Commission. Following his request a Sinhala extremist in the audience screamed ‘Ado api okkama sinhala (You! We all are Sinhalese)’.
The President in his address said: ‘there was a time when I was in the opposition I was carrying out just campaigns in the streets. But I do not believe there is any justice in the campaigns held here. In the democratic Britain, I was not allowed to speak at the Oxford Union that stands for upholding the freedom of speech’. Then he went on to praise his effort to end the LTTE terrorism and said about his policy direction to develop the country without mentioning anything about the political resolution to the conflict.
Thesam.Net reporting the event said that there was displeasure among the Tamil and Muslim participants that all the speeches were not in English. The news said, despite President Mahinda Rajapakse’s ability to speak in all three languages, he only spoke in Sinhala throughout.
The report further said the meeting was not well conducted and there was no interactive discussion with the President.
Further inquiries about the meeting revealed that President was found tired and upset over all what had happened in London. Whenever he stirred the Sinhala sentiments in his speech there was loud applauses from the crowd.
Following the speeches President Mahinda Rajapakse engaged with the crowd for few minutes. One attendee went and asked in English: ‘President what are you proposing to deal with the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka?’ He bluntly replied in Sinhala: ‘Mama Karanna Okkama Karanawa (I am doing everything that I can do)’ and walked away from the person. The person felt snubbed that the President replied in Sinhala and walked away from him immediately after.
A confidential High Commission source confirmed that the High Commissioner Nihal Jayasinghe was heavily wrapped by the President for his poor management of his visit. Nihal Jayasinghe was in an unusual agitated mood and according to a participant, his body language spoke volume of the pressure he had encountered with the President.
The police had an uphill task to find an alternative route for the attendees to leave the High Commission premises after the meeting, due to demonstrations at both end of the road. The guests were made to slip away through the alleyway opposite the High Commission. Even then some angry demonstrators had confronted the attendees in the alleyway. Some of the attendees were taken away in police vehicles to the nearby underground station.
President Mahinda Rajapakse was taken away with heavy police escort after the meeting.
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