Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa who has repeatedly criticised India over its responsibility in the Sri Lankan war and the 13th Amendment, is in India again.

In an extremely low-profile visit, Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in Delhi for a short visit this week, which was largely kept under wraps by the two governments, an Indian media report says.

The News Indian Express last night said; Gotabaya Rajapaksa called on Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid on Friday morning, before he left for Colombo at the end of his trip. He met with his defence ministry counterparts on Thursday.

The newspaper said; “This was a significant visit, as it was the first high-level bilateral meeting following the Commonwealth Summit, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not attend due to pressure from Tamil Nadu over the lack of accountability for war crimes towards the ends of the civil war in the island nation.

“As a very influential member of the Lankan government, Gotabaya is one of the key voices calling for dilution of the powers of the provincial councils, as stipulated under the Indo-Lanka accord and enacted through the13th amendment.

India had managed to stave off such efforts before the commonwealth summit, but there are fears that the parliamentary select committee to look into ways to amend the constitution to dilute 13A may be revived, now that the international scrutiny has been removed.”

Before leaving to India, he said; “India Is Our Largest Neighbour And The Most Important Country In The Region”

Source: Colombo Telegraph (Sri Lanka)