Sri Lanka's Defence Attache who was filmed motioning the slitting of one's throat to Tamils protesting in London on Sunday said his gesture was to indicate 'it's all over'.
“I only showed them it’s all over from my gesture, When I showed the Sri Lanka badge it was to tell them this your land not Tamil Eelam," he told the Sinhala language paper Riviru in an interview.
His action has been condemned by Tamils, British MPs and rights groups as a threat echoing the mass atrocities committed against Tamils during the end of the armed conflict.
He was suspended by the Ministry of External Affairs earlier this week, only to be reinstated by the Sri Lankan president the following day. The Sri Lankan army has defended his actions, praising him for his 'signal' to the 'LTTE diaspora'.
Brigadier Priyanka Fernando was posted to London as the Sri Lankan High Commission’s defence attache last year said a briefing note by journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) & the International Truth and Justice Project (IJTP).
As part of the military offensive in 2009, Brigadier Fernando fought in Weli Oya and Janakapura for the 11 Gemunu Watch Battalion as part of the 59 Division of the Sri Lankan Army.
The United Nations OHCHR Investigation into Sri Lanka detailed multiple incidents, implicating the 59 Division in the shelling of hospitals south of Mullaitivu.
