Once again Sri Lanka cheats the International Community

by S. V. Kirubaharan

Views Expressed in this article are author own

( February 14, 2016, Paris, Sri Lanka Guardian) Over the last year, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon has become an international playground for China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, USA, UK and EU countries. Except for two or three, all the others supported regime change and now they are competing to have their share of gain.

Some are progressing well! Unfortunately, neighbouring India, accused by the former President as being a country in favour of regime change, has not received its reasonable dividend. India is not happy about the recent developments in Sri Lanka. Regarding the ethnic conflict, they took a very lenient path but that trick didn’t work with the new government. The new government prefers to deal equally with China and India.

For various reasons, no government in power in Sri Lanka will exclude China. In other words, there are many reasons for Sri Lanka to be watchful of India. Even though Indian decision-makers know this well, they play a silent diplomacy.

On the other hand, the USA, UK and EU countries are doing well with the new regime. Whether economically or on human rights, it is all based on politics. It is a question of how much Sri Lanka is willing to offer those countries. Some say India is looking for a giant share in Sri Lanka.

In Sri Lanka, the ethnic conflict has existed since independence in 1948. But Tamil political grievances never reached the international community until 1983. Even though there were many Sinhala riots against the Tamils (1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983), it was only after July 1983, the international community began to be aware of the longstanding communal blood-bath in Sri Lanka.

No country except Britain was aware of the failure of the Banda-Chelva pact in 1956 and the Dudly-Chelva pact in 1965.

SWRD Bandaranayake (Banda) father of ex-President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who belongs to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party – SLFP was Prime Minister in 1957 and Dudley Senanayake (Dudly) of the United National Party – UNP was Prime Minister in 1965. They both signed agreements in 1956 and 1965 respectively, with then Tamil leader S.J.V. Chelvanayagam (Chelva). These agreements were based on a quasi-federal system, devolving certain powers to the North and East.

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