Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa believes that the defeat experienced by Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva was due to the failures of the External Affairs Ministry and has proposed to the President that Ministry is subjected to a complete re-organization.

The Defence Secretary has explained that regardless of the efforts made by the President and the Defence Secretary, the country was being defeated before the international community due to weaknesses at the External Affairs Ministry.

The Defence Secretary has said Prof. G.L. Peiris has failed as the External Affairs Minister and has pointed out that the clash between Ministry Secretary Karunathileka Amunugama and Additional Secretary Kshenuka Seneviratne has also had an adverse impact on the functioning of the Ministry.

He has warned that if the External Affairs Ministry did not pick up its act after being re-organized, the war victory achieved by the Defence Ministry would be in vain and it would eventually lead to the defeat of the government.

A senior official from the Presidential Secretariat told us that the President has agreed to re-organize the External Affairs Ministry after the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.