The US embassy in Colombo had said it was "regrettable" that the Sri Lankan government had refused to grant Ambassador Russell a visa for the planned visit this month. The Embassy had said Rusell’s visit had nothing to do with human rights issues, but matters pertaining to women empowerment.

Bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and the US government have strained due to the US sponsored resolution which is to be presented before the UN Human Rights Council session in March. Diplomatic sources told ‘Asian Mirror’ that the decision will make things worse where the Sri Lanka US bilateral relations are concerned.

Although ‘Asian Mirror’ attempted to get a response from the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry over the matter, our efforts proved to be futile.