GTF attempts to get Brigadier Fernando’s family removed

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF), an influential Tamil diaspora group in the UK, is attempting to have the family of the Defense Attaché to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, removed from the UK.

GTF spokesman Suren Surendiran has written to British Home Secretary Amber Rudd thanking him for returning Brigadier Fernando to Sri Lanka.

“However, we understand that Brigadier’s family members continue to live in the UK. We are therefore writing to request you to curtail their visas and return them back to Sri Lanka,” Surendiran said in the letter.

He says the Immigration Rules provide for the refusal of leave to enter or the curtailment of leave already granted in circumstances where there are discretionary powers to allow the Home Secretary to act in a manner that protects the interests of the United Kingdom and those resident within the country.

“Brigadier Fernando’s visa must have been curtailed based on this principle before he was sent back to Sri Lanka. The wife and children of Brigadier Fernando must have been granted leave to enter the UK as the dependants of the principal who had been granted a diplomatic visa to enter/remain in the UK. They have not been granted leave to enter the UK in their own right. Therefore, their visas in effect stand and fall with Brigadier Fernando. In the circumstances, we respectfully ask you to curtail their visas and return them back to Sri Lanka,” Surendiran said in his letter.

Earlier, the UK Foreign Office, in response to an email sent by Surendiran, said that the UK Government was taking the incident involving Brigadier Fernando very seriously. (Colombo Gazette)