Parliament must take a stand on snobbish missions - Speaker

Uditha Kumarasinghe and Irangika Range

Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara yesterday stressed the importance of Parliament to take a stand against diplomatic missions based here if they attempt to harass MPs and citizens regarding their visa applications. He said citizens have to face various harassments when their finger prints are obtained by some embassies to issue them a visa.

“Even our Prime Minister had faced difficulties abroad due to this process followed by a certain embassy here. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Parliament to stand against such moves.

“If being a Sinhalese or a Buddhist to be harassed in foreign countries, that would be a dangerous trend that we should not allow to happen. I am disturbed by this situation,” he said.

Many Sri Lankans have faced a lot of inconvenience due to applicants made to place their finger prints and the purposeful delay of some embassies to issue them a visa.