Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused prime minister sent a message of congratulations to British parliamentarian Ranil Jayawardena this morning, after the lawmaker announced he was appointed as a Minister at the Department for International Trade
“Congratulations… on your appointment,” tweeted Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s current prime minister and former president. Under his tenure 11 years ago, the military killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in massacres that are being commemorated around the world this month. “We wish you the very best for a successful tenure,” he added.
Jayawardena will serve as Britain’s new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of International Trade. He is also the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group to Sri Lanka and served as the UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Sri Lanka.
The parliamentarian has made several trips to Sri Lanka and is known to have close ties to senior Sri Lankan politicians.
The lawmaker has been vocal about Sri Lanka, including in the British parliament where he criticised the LTTE in a 2015 debate on “Tamil Rights”. Whilst several British parliamentarians expressed how Tamils have little faith in the Sri Lankan government, Jayawardena told the House of Commons that there was a “political process” underway in Sri Lanka with the election of then president Maithripala Sirisena. And whilst other parliamentarians called for international involvement with the prosecution of war crimes, Jayawardena claimed it was “important to be fair to both sides”.
“I do not believe that anyone present is saying that war is pretty,” said Jayawardena. “It certainly was war, and things might well have been done differently on both sides.”
“Let us not forget that it was the LTTE, which I accept no one here supports, who perfected the suicide belt and were the first to use women as suicide bombers. Those are disgusting acts that no one present would support; indeed, I am sure that everyone would condemn them,” he added.
Jayawardena went on to call on the British Foreign Office to ensure “ensuring more trade and investment between our country and Sri Lanka”.
His recent appointment has been widely covered in the Sri Lankan press, and with Rajapaksa’s recent message, many in the ruling regime are looking forward to building close trade ties with the UK.