COLOMBO: The US has sanctioned former senior Sri Lankan Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda for “gross violation” of human rights during the brutal conflict with the LTTE, evoking a strong reaction from Colombo which said the “unilateral” move was “counter-productive”.
The 70-year-old former Navy commander from 2005-2009 is the second senior defence official of such stature to be sanctioned by the US for human rights violations during the final battle with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.
Karannagoda was later appointed Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Japan and currently is a governor of a province in the island nation.
In 2020, the US State Department similarly sanctioned the current chief of defence staff General Shavendra Silva. He was a divisional head of the Army during the final battle with the LTTE and later became the Commander.
“The US State Department has designated the former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda for ‘a gross violation of human rights’,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.