Sri Lanka lifts ban on Qatar Charity as it tries to secure fuel supply from Doha

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inister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera in discussion with Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi on Tuesday -QNA
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By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO– Sri Lanka has lifted a ban on Qatar Charity, a top minister said, months after the government froze the charity’s accounts accusing it of funding Islamic terrorism through a local charity maintained by prominent lawyer and human rights defender Hejaaz Hizbullah.

A former police minister and a close ally of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sarath Weerasekara, told Parliament on January 7, 2021 that the ringleader of the Easter Sunday suicide bombers, Zaharan Hashim, had conducted lectures at ‘Peart of Unity’, an organization maintained by Hizbullah. The ‘Pearl of Unity’ and its local branch was funded by Qatar Charity, which Weerasekara claimed was banned by the United Nations.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) subsequently froze the accounts of Qatar Charity in Sri Lanka.

The move, along with President Rajapaksa’s flat refusal to honour Qatar’s request through the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to stop cremating Sri Lanka’s minority Muslims who died of COVID-19, soured the Gulf nation’s relations with Sri Lanka.

Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera who led a delegation to Qatar to discuss possibilities of securing a fuel credit line to Sri Lanka said he met Qatar Charity officials in Doha on Wednesday (June 29).

“Met the Officials of the Qatar Charity yesterday. Conveyed the message that the Defence Ministry has informed the Attorney General its decision to lift the ban on the fund which was imposed in 2019,” Wijesekera tweeted.

He also discussed the Charity’s work in Sri Lanka and globally.

Wijesekera’s statement on lifting the ban comes at a time Sri Lanka is gradually coming to a standstill as it does not have any fuel imports until mid-next month. Wijesekera before leaving to Qatar on Sunday (June 26) told reporters that he was exploring possibilities of importing fuel from the oil-rich country.

During his visit, Wijesekera met Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Qatar Minister of State for Energy Affairs and the President and CEO of Qatar Energy, and discussed the supply of petroleum products, liquid petroleum (LP) gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Sri Lanka to overcome the energy crisis with the assistance of Qatar Energy and the Qatar Development Fund.

The minister also met Deputy Director General of the Qatar Fund for Development and said that he “discussed a possible credit line facility for petroleum and gas supply” and was “informed that funds has been allocated for medical supplies and will consider the request for a credit facility [and] support the IMF program”.

Despite many leaders of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peremuna (SLPP) approaching Middle Eastern countries for fuel, President Rajapaksa administration has hardly got a positive response, government officials acknowledged.

The legal case involved with Qatar Charity saw the arrest of Hizbullah by the CID on April 14, 2020, and placed on a detention order by President Rajapaksa, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for allegedly “aiding and abetting” the Easter Sunday bombers and for engaging in activities deemed “detrimental to religious harmony among communities”.

He was detained for a without being charged for over 15 months. However, amid mounting international pressure, the government charged him before a court released him on bail early this year.

Qatar is one of the top foreign employment providers for Sri Lanka along with the United Arab Emirates.

Sri Lankan diplomats in the Middle East have said the governments there do not give as much priority to Sri Lankan issues as they did before actions of the island nation’s political leaders soured diplomatic relations.

Meanwhile, in a connected development, Hizbullah, displaying a sense of magnanimity that was absent in the government previous racially driven actions, urged Qatar on Wednesday (June 30) to be a true friend in need and help Sri Lanka out of this dire situation.

“Accusing @Qatarcharityc of terrorism in #SriLanka was another ‘historic mistake’ by this govt. Those responsible must be held accountable & I ask Qatar to be a true friend in need and help us out of this dire situation,” he tweeted.

-economynext.com/ENCL

 

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