RIYADH: GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN ARAB NEWS STAFF
Thursday
28 February 2013
Last
Update 28 February 2013 2:49 pm
Ministry
of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday the “recall” of Saudi Ambassador to
Sri Lanka Abdulaziz Bin Abdurrahman Al-Jammaz was a summons for consultation.
“The Saudi ambassador has not been recalled permanently, but asked to come to Riyadh for consultations,” said Alauddin A. Alaskary, deputy foreign minister for protocol affairs, here yesterday.
“The Saudi ambassador has not been recalled permanently, but asked to come to Riyadh for consultations,” said Alauddin A. Alaskary, deputy foreign minister for protocol affairs, here yesterday.
“There
is a difference between an invitation for consultations and a recall …
Al-Jammaz has not been recalled, he is still the ambassador to Sri Lanka,” he
added.
He
was commenting on several reports published in Sri Lankan media recently that
said that Riyadh has recalled its ambassador from Colombo amid tensions after a
Sri Lankan nanny convicted of murder was beheaded in the Kingdom early this year.
Asked
about the return date of the Saudi envoy to Colombo, Alaskary said that, “it is
yet to be decided by the foreign ministry.” But, Al-Jammaz, who is Saudi
ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, will be going back soon, he added.
D.
S. Gammanpila, charge d’affaires at Sri Lankan Embassy, said that the relations
between Riyadh and Colombo are normal.
“Even
the Sri Lankan workers are being recruited for the Kingdom,’ said the Sri
Lankan diplomat. The bilateral relations, which were strained after the
execution of Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek, who was charged with smothering a
four-month-old baby in 2005; are normal now.
Gammanpila
said that Sri Lankan workers are being recruited and deployed in the Kingdom
regularly.
“There
are no problems,” said the diplomat, when asked to clarify a report about
Colombo suspending the recruitment of Sri Lankan workers including maids. The
report was based on the a statement released by an association of foreign
employment agents in Sri Lanka, which said that the Sri Lankan government has
suspended sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia.
The report released by the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) said that the Sri Lankan government has suspended sending workers and maids to Saudi Arabia until the Saudi authorities provide a proper insurance scheme to the Sri Lankan employees. Saudi Arabia currently is home for about 500,000 Sri Lankan workers. Most workers are maids employed by Saudi families, schools and a few of them in expatriates’ houses.
The report released by the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) said that the Sri Lankan government has suspended sending workers and maids to Saudi Arabia until the Saudi authorities provide a proper insurance scheme to the Sri Lankan employees. Saudi Arabia currently is home for about 500,000 Sri Lankan workers. Most workers are maids employed by Saudi families, schools and a few of them in expatriates’ houses.
Asked
about the arrival of the new Sri Lankan ambassador to Saudi Arabia, whose name
was announced by the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry last week; Gammanpila
said that “the Sri Lankan mission in Riyadh has not been informed about the
date of the arrival of ambassador-designate Vadivel Krishnamoorthy. Sri Lankan
government nominated senior diplomat Vadivel just two weeks after his
predecessor Ambassador Ahmed A. Jawad returned to Colombo.
