Swiss summon Sri Lankan envoy over worker´s abduction

GENEVA: Switzerland has summoned Sri Lanka´s ambassador and asked to see the “purported evidence” that Colombo says casts doubt on claims by a Swiss embassy staff member that she was abducted. Envoy Karunasena Hettiarachchi, who is based in Berlin, met Switzerland´s State Secretary Pascale Baeriswyl in Bern on Monday, a statement said. The diplomatic spat began when a senior Sri Lanka police officer sought asylum in Switzerland after investigating several cases involving members of the powerful Rajapaksa family — Gotabaya Rajapaksa currently serves as president. The next day a local worker at the Swiss embassy in Colombo claimed she had been abducted and forced to hand over sensitive information — reportedly including the names of Sri Lankans who had sought asylum in Switzerland. According to the Swiss foreign ministry, the woman was “threatened by unidentified men” and forced “to disclose embassy-related information”. On Sunday, Sri Lanka sought to raise doubts about the Swiss narrative, claiming ambassador Hanspeter Mock had been given “clear evidence” that the staff member´s account did not add up.