Sri Lanka Speaker rejects opposition motion in parliament on cancellation of President's speech in London

Speaker of Sri Lankan parliament Chamal Rajapaksa today rejected a move by main opposition United National Party (UNP) to present an adjournment motion in parliament tomorrow (8) seeking a debate on the cancellation of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's keynote address at a business forum organized by the Commonwealth Business Council in the UK. Rajapaksa has rejected the request by the UNP saying the matter was not of any national importance. "I have made my decision. I do not think this is a matter of national importance,"
The Speaker has said. UNP sources told that the adjournment motion was to focus on the failure of the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry and the Sri Lankan High Commission in the UK on carrying out a prior assessment on the situation in the UK. The organizers cancelled the President's keynote address to the Commonwealth Economic Forum Wednesday due to the pressure from pro-LTTE elements in London. The UNP says the Sri Lankan authorities should have been able to properly assess the situation in the UK without waiting for the organizers of the business forum to cancel the speech. They added that the main opposition UNP considered the whole incident as an insult to all Sri Lankans, which is not just limited to the cancellation of a speech by the President. According to UNP sources, the decision to move the motion had been made at the party's parliamentary group meeting held yesterday (6). In 2010 December, the Oxford Union, which invited the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa to address their members, cancelled President's speech due to pressure from pro-LTTE organizations in the UK.