Sri Lanka’s embassy in Washington DC has reportedly called on its Sri Lankan diaspora in the United States to mobilise and lobby against a travel ban imposed on the head of its army Shavendra Silva, over his involvement in war crimes.

A parliamentarian in Sri Lanka’s opposition has called for legislators on both sides of the aisle to join together and boycott the United States until a travel ban imposed on the head of Sri Lanka’s army is lifted.

UNF Parliamentarian S M Marikkar said that he would refrain from travelling to the United States until the ban on Shavendra Silva, who led Sri Lanka’s 58 Division which committed extrajudicial killings and shelled Tamil civilians, was lifted.

He went on to call on “so-called patriots in the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna” to join his boycott.

The Sri Lankan government criticised a United States imposed travel sanction on the head of its army over reports of his involvement in war crimes and extrajudicial killings of Tamils more than a decade ago.

Sri Lanka reportedly summoned US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz for a meeting in Colombo on Sunday, where Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena “formally conveyed… Sri Lanka’s strong objections” on the ban placed on Shavendra Silva and his family.

The leader of Sri Lanka’s opposition has vowed to “stand by” the head of the army, after he was banned from travelling to the United States over his involvement in mass atrocities over a decade ago, when tens of thousands of Tamils were killed in a Sri Lankan military offensive.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) welcomed the decision to impose a travel ban against Shavendra Silva and his family into entering the US.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) expressed their sympathies following the death of Mrs Manoharan – the mother of Manoharan Ragihar – who was one of the students of the ‘Trinco 5’.

The United States (US) Ambassador to Sri Lanka has been summoned to Sri Lanka's Foreign Minstry over the US travel ban on Sri Lankan army chief, Shavendra Silva, Adaderana reports. 

The Ambassador, Alaina Teplitz, has been called on to meet with Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on February 16 to discuss the travel ban.

Shavendra Silva was barred from entering the USA “due to credible information of his involvement, through command responsibility, in gross violations of human rights.”

The current speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya has admitted that corruption is “entrenched” in Sri Lanka, stating that both major political parties are guilty.

Speaker Jayasuriya tweeted last month that “Sri Lanka’s corruption is so entrenched that both sides governed SL are implicated by report after report”.

“Forensic report on bonds and ETF, and Sri Lankan Airlines employee fixed in UK courts for $ 2 m are mere recent examples,” he added.