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| Jacqueline Fernandez had role in embassy decision |
Opening Sri Lanka embassy in the Bahrain capital Manama
Sri
Lankan beauty queen and Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez who grew up in
Bahrain has reportedly played a role in her country’s decision to open an
embassy in the Bahrain capital Manama, an Indian
news source said.
“By birth,
Jacqueline may be a Sri Lankan, but the actress takes her affiliation to
Bahrain quite seriously,” NDTV said. “She recently helped in dialogues that
will soon lead to the opening of the Lankan embassy in the Gulf country.”
Citing
sources it did not identify, NDTV said that “Jacqueline has spent a lot of her
growing up years in Bahrain, as her parents moved there”.
“There was
no Sri Lankan embassy in Bahrain but only a consulate and she felt there was a
need for someone to protect immigrants of a particular nation in another
country. Apparently, thanks to her popularity the actress pulled a few strings
and took matters into her hands. She had many meetings with those in power and
urged them to open the embassy,” the news source said.
Reports in Manama in
December said that Sri Lanka was set to open its first fully operational
embassy in Bahrain that will support the more than 20,000 Sri Lankans living in
the country.
Jacqueline Fernandez who
holds a degree in media and communications was born to a Sri Lankan father and
a Malaysian mother. Her family moved to Bahrain when she was three.
Jacqueline Fernandez was crowned Miss Sri
Lanka in 2006 and made her acting debut in Bollywood in 2009.