Founder of the highly popular Galle Literary Festival and Australian Citizen Geoffrey Dobbs has been denied entry into Sri Lanka this morning after being deported last month, prompting Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to speculate in Parliament a short while ago that someone in the Rajapaksa regime may have an eye on his considerable property in the Galle District.
Geoffrey Dobbs
Dobbs who was asked by immigration authorities to leave Sri Lanka following spat with the Southern Province Governor Kumari Balasuriya just before CHOGM 2013, arrived in Colombo this morning but was not granted visa to enter the country. Dobbs had taken issue with the Australian Flag being displayed upside down during the preparations for the Commonwealth Summit in Galle and when his appeals were ignored by the Governor when he brought the matter to her notice, he proceeded to display the Sri Lankan flag upside down. The move irked the authorities who moved into high gear to deport Dobbs.
Raising the issue in Parliament, Wickremesinghe quipped: “Someone in the Government must be looking to acquire his property in Galle.”
The Opposition Leader noted that turning away an individual like Dobbs who had been a hotel operator and businessman in Sri Lanka for so long would hurt the country’s tourism industry.
After Dobbs’ deportation he had been advised to return to Sri Lanka and sort out his issues here, Wickremesinghe noted.
“But this morning he emailed me and said he had been denied entry to Sri Lanka,” Wickremesinghe told the House.
Dobbs, who was born in Britiain, was instrumental in organising the Galle Literary Festival that turned into a highly popular event for tourists and locals in Galle every January. The event, garnering high profile sponsorships like SriLankan Airlines and HSBC brought significant numbers of tourists and visitors to Galle each year. This year GLF was not held due to Dobbs’ poor health.
Dawn Dale / December 30, 2013
flying Sri Lankan flag upside down shows he is a petty man or someone who thinks others are inferior to him. perhaps a fine would have sufficed for such an offense. deporting seems rather extreme. after all he is responsible for Galle Lit fest which is great.
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Backlash / December 30, 2013
Dawn,
Problem with you is you are normal, cultured and devoid of pettiness and hatred. You, therefore, do not belong in this Island now feverishly promoting
a militant form of Sinhala Buddhism bathed in majoritarianism and
pseudo-nationalism. This has nothing to do with those set of principles and Codes of Conduct preached by one of India’s greatest
sons – Prince Gautham Siddarth. What we have now is the version by that political thug Elle Gunawanse.
The top layer of the ruling clique does not understand literature and
learning – something you must have digested by now.
Backlash
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