US Ambassador meets Mannaar Bishop

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 June 2012, 10:28 GMT]
The United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Patricia Butenis, Wednesday, during an official visit to Mannaar, paid a courtesy call to Rt. Reverend Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannaar Diocese, and talked to him for more than three hours on the current situation faced by Tamils in the NorthEast, sources close to the Bishop said.

Rt. Reverend Rayappu Joseph was summoned last month to the notorious Colombo’s Fourth Floor of the Criminal Investigation Unit by the Terrorist Investigation Department and was grilled by the TID officials over the evidence the Bishop gave to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in regard to civilian massacres, human rights violation and other atrocities committed in past.

National and International NGOs and Civil society organizations fearing threat to Mannaar Bishop's life appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka and Vatican to ensure security to the Bishop.

The US envoy, who arrived by a helicopter, met Bishop Rayappu Joseph in the hostile climate faced by the Bishop who was threatened recently by a Minister based in Mannaar and holding an important position in the Mahinda Rajapakse Government.