Britain’s Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific said the UK government was treating the incident of Sri Lanka's UK defence attache Brigadier Priyanka Fernando threatening Tamil protestors “very seriously” and confirmed that he has been ordered back to Colombo.
Brigadier Fernando was filmed on February 4 making a throat slitting gesture at Tamils protesting outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. Clive Efford MP for Eltham stated that if “somebody else incited hatred in that way on our streets, they would be interviewed by the police” and asked the minister if Brigadier would be “interviewed by the police about that crime”.
In response, Mark Field said that the “UK takes this incident very seriously”.
He stated that he had spoken with Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister and was in “no doubt that the Sri Lankan Government were treating it with the seriousness that it deserves”.
“They have informed the UK Government that they have ordered the defence attaché to return to Colombo from London with immediate effect for consultations while the incident is thoroughly investigated,” he added.
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