India always stood for united, sovereign Sri Lanka: Lok Sabha Speaker
Posted on October 6th, 2017
IANS | Colombo | October 7, 2017 1:03 am Courtesy The Statesman
India has always stood for a united and sovereign Sri Lanka, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said on Friday, as her counterpart from the island nation’s parliament assured her that the proposed new constitution would take care of all ethnic groups.
After the conclusion of the 8th Conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians, the Indian Parliamentary Delegation led by Mahajan met the Sri Lankan delegation led by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and told him of India’s stand, an official statement said.
In response, Jayasuriya informed Mahajan that the proposed new Constitution of Sri Lanka would take care of all ethnic groups and other stakeholders. To achieve this goal, the draft of the new Constitution would be widely debated, he said.
Sri Lanka has a major chunk of population of Tamil origin, which constitutes more than 11 per cent of its population.
Referring to rich cultural ties between the two countries, Mahajan suggested that religious tourism for Indian tourists in Sri Lanka could be further increased. In this regard, she also referred to the Buddhist Circuit being developed in India.
Both delegations expressed interest in consolidating closer ties between the two Parliaments and to organise a friendly cricket match between their members.
It was felt that regular dialogue between the two Parliaments would provide a fillip to bilateral ties,” the statement said.
Appreciating the capacity-building programmes being organised by the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training (BPST) of Lok Sabha Secretariat for the their parliamentarians and officials, the Sri Lankan Delegation suggested that the capacity-buildings programmes, including attachment programmes, might be customized for the officials of the Sri Lanka Parliament.
Mahajan assured that all such suggestions would be considered sincerely.
October 6th, 2017 at 3:26 pm
True; India never stood for a unitary Sri Lanka. United in the context means federal.
The proper definition is a unitary Sri Lanka where people are united.
October 6th, 2017 at 4:09 pm
This Indian idiot should know that there is no Sri Lanka yet to be united. It is one single country and has been so since time immemorial administered under the Eka Chatra Rule – One Umbrella Rule always administered from one Central Unit with power devolved to the periphery only on matters of local rule and nothing else. These matters never included those over land or security. The central government always kept with them the authority to bring under their rule and power any upstarts and unruly peripheral leaders.
It was on this principle that Sapumal Kumarya was dispatched to Yapa Patuana. The writ of the Central Government always held sway in Sri Lanka except at those times when there were insurrections.
Whereas, Sri Lanka has been a political and geographical entity with a written and verifiable history of over 2600 years, borders defined by the ocean around Sri Lanka, India has only being a geograhical entity without definite borders. It is a construct of the Colonial Powers, the British for their administrative purposes, similar to Malaysia and Indonesia. Several countries and principalities brought under one administration by the British East India Company became India and Pakistan in August 1947.
Sri Lanka must prevail under these young and upstart powers, however powerful they may be for they are bound to wither away into their constituent parts one day – as has been happening in Catalonia now.
October 6th, 2017 at 6:31 pm
INDIA stood for a United, Sovereign Sri Lanka ?
Then why the 13-A imposed under Duress on the JRJ govt in 1987 ?
This ILLEGAL piece of legislation is still in place.
Also, why did INDIA train the LTTE in Tamil Nadu in the 1980s, leading the Tamil terrorists to ruin Lanka for nearly 30 yrs and ruined a once flourishing country, the Security, the Economy as well as the Lanka Reputation abroad ?
It’s not too late for INDIA to allow Sri Lanka to remove the 13-A.
Also, give citizenship to the Tamil folk in TN Refugee camps, as requested by the late CM there, Jayalalitha.
October 7th, 2017 at 5:45 am
“India always stood for united, sovereign Sri Lanka: Lok Sabha Speaker”
ABSOLUTE BLOODY ROT …. This man Sumithra Mahajan speaks with a FORKED-TONGUE!
INDIA is RESPONSIBLE for ALL of SRi Lanka’s ILLS since independence!
The SEPARATISTS India TRAINED, FINANCED, ARMED, DELIVERED and DEFENDED waged a 30-year war killing HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of our citizens, bringing Sri Lanka to the BRINK of DISINTEGRATION.
Now INDIA has joined in cahoots with the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora, their bretheren in Tamil Nadu, and Western Powers hell-bent on containing China at any cost, with whose politicians are BRIBED to the BRIM by the Tamil Tigers, to COLONIZE and CHOP Sri Lanka into a patchwork Nation of warring BANTUSTANS!
I say, TO HELL WITH THEM! Kick OUT INDIA, ALL of their Businesses and ALL of their Diplomats!
However, OUR GREATEST ENEMIES are the HOMEGROWN TRAITORS among us actively collaborating with the Yamapalanaya to bring Sri Lanka to its knees, while ROBBING EVERY NATIONAL ASSET in sight in BROAD DAYLIGHT with SHOCKING IMPUNITY!
In modern China, they EXECUTE such CORRUPT politicians in PUBLIC; greater the theft the more SEVERE is the PUNISHMENT.
Do we Sri Lankans LOVE our Motherland LESS? Should do any less than China, in DEFENCE of our resplendent ISLAND HOME?
October 8th, 2017 at 9:51 am
Manekshaw, BOLD STEP you say? In ONE WORD, that is UN-ADULTERATED HORSE MANURE!
ALL the “RECONCILIATION” and “EMPOWERMENT” of Tamils in the North and East has done to date is to EMBED & STRENGTHEN SEPARATISTS CLAMOURING for EVEN MORE POWER & EVENTUAL DISINTEGRATION of Sri Lanka!
MAHINDA made the same MISTAKE when he PROMOTED the IDEA OF RECONCILIATION with UNREPENTANT TERRRORISTS and SEPARATISTS! He FREED them from the clutches of LTTE TERROR, but these INGRATES paid him back with UNREMITTING ENMITY, and even now are WORKING HARD to resurrect that SAME Tamil Tiger GULAG!
IT IS TIME to STOP this RECONCILIATION CRAP NOW that has not WORKED to change the COMMUNAL RACIST MINDSET of Tamil people in the North and East.
IT IS TIME to IGNORE their DEMANDS for DEVOLUTION OF POWER, and to just ACCORD them EQUAL RIGHTS and DEMAND EQUAL RESPONSIBILITY from them, just as we do from OTHER Sri Lankans.
IT IS DOWNRIGHT DANGEROUS to EMPOWER UNREPENTANT SEPARATISTS; they WILL NEVER CHANGE as long as Tamil Nadu & India EXISTS to help NURSE their SEPARATIST DREAMS!
IT IS TIME for Sri Lanka to look to its DEFENSES and INSTALL a PATRIOTIC NO-NONSENSE Government that will IMPLEMENT & ENFORCE Laws that will PROTECT Sri Lanka as a UNITARY SINHALA-BUDDHIST Nation in PERPETUITY.
EQUAL RIGHTS …. YES! SEPARATE RIGHTS …. NEVER!
If BASIL is PANDERING to Tamil and other MINORITY COMMUNALISTS, he should be STOPPED in his TRACKS!
Gothabhaya is RIGHT! Sri Lanka CANNOT BE PROTECTED and MAINTAINED as a SINGLE UNITARY Nation by PANDERING to OVERT & COVERT SEPARATIST AGENDAS!
If you are a Sinhala-Buddhist Leader, DONT GO AROUND WORSHIPPING other religious DIETIES!
HONOR & RESPECT other religious BELIEFS in a spirit of TOLERANCE, but DON’T go around participating in their RELIGIOUS RITUALS we ourselves DON’T BELIEVE, like an ACHCHARU Buddhist! Phew …. what a bunch of ADDLE-PATED GOOF-BALLS!
DITCH RECONCILIATION and SECURE the Nation!
……………………………….
Basil takes a bold step
CeylonToday.lk
By Manekshaw
The famous slogan put forward by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his Presidential campaign trail in the North was “known devil is better than unknown angel”. However, the Northerners and the Easterners preferred the ‘unknown angel’ for the ‘known devil’ by helping to overthrow the Rajapaksa regime with their verdict ‘whatever devil is a devil’ at the Presidential poll in 2015.
A few days after the landmark verdict given on school girl Vithya Sivaloganathan gruesome murder case with death sentences passed on seven of the accused, the former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa was in Jaffna to launch the political activities of his newly formed party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.
Having been a prominent Minister and being a member of the Rajapaksa family, Basil’s visit to Jaffna last week was very significant in many ways as it was after the Presidential Poll defeat in 2015, Basil who was one of the main strategists of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Presidential election campaign visited Jaffna for the first time.
After the discussions he had in Jaffna with his party men Basil met the prominent Hindu and Catholic religious dignitaries and spoke to them on the present situation in the North.
Basil would have got the opportunity to read the pulse of the people in the North with the comment made by Rev. Gnanasampantha Paramachariyar, Chief Priest of the Nallur Gnanasampanthar Atheenam which is a foremost Hindu institution in Jaffna.
More than a spiritual leader the Reverend Gnanasampantha Paramachariyar is a person who remained in Jaffna and witnessed the terrifying conditions in the Peninsula when the turbulent conditions engulfed the region.
It is not only this Hindu dignitary even the Catholic Bishop of Jaffna is also an observer of the pre-and post war developments and their views as neutral persons were considered noteworthy by the local as well as the foreign dignitaries who pay courtesy calls on them.
Basil Rajapaksa was briefed on the present mind frame of the people of Jaffna by Rev. Gnanasampantha Paramachariyar. The Hindu dignitary said: “First of all the Buddhist fanatics in the South should be enlightened on strengthening peace and reconciliation in the country. Extremism in politics or religion shouldn’t be allowed to derail the good efforts to strengthen the peace and reconciliation.”
As Sri Lanka is blessed with all major religions in the world, except for Buddhist clergy there were hardly any clergymen of other religions who flexed their muscles in the politics of the country.
So, the comment made by the Hindu dignitary from Jaffna to former Minister Basil Rajapaksa has clearly indicated that the efforts to strengthen peace and reconciliation should be carried out by getting rid of the involvement of Buddhist monks in politics.
Constructive move
Rev. Gnanasampantha Paramachariyar also mentioned categorically that the people in the North were not against any constructive move to bring about a political solution to the ethnic question.
Later, addressing the press at the Jaffna Press Club, Basil Rajapaksa spoke positively on several issues on the peace building process in the North.
Basil as Minister of Economic Development played a key role in rebuilding the post-war infrastructure facilities in the North and the East.
So as a former Minister focused on the Economic Development Basil speaking to the press in Jaffna emphasized on the need of releasing the lands still in the possession of the Security Forces in the North.
Basil though he didn’t meet the families of the involuntarily disappeared persons during his stay in Jaffna had pointed out the need of expediting the process to find a solution to the issue.
In the meantime Cabinet Spokesman and Minister of Health Dr. Rajitha Senaratne commenting on the visit of Basil Rajapaksa to Jaffna last week said that if former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had listened to Basil he wouldn’t have lost the Presidential Poll in 2015.
Dr. Senaratne’s comment is interesting as former President Mahinda Rajapaksa depended heavily on his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa to bring an end to the separatist war militarily in the North.
However, even after ending the separatist war the former President depended more on Gotabaya instead of focusing on the economic oriented humanitarian activities and dealing effectively on the political front to build up the credibility of the North and East people.
So, Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne being a member of the Rajapaksa government was absolutely correct that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa depending on Gotabaya even in the post-war period had led to the neglect of several humanitarian issues shattering the hopes of the people in the North and the East who expected that early solutions would be reached in releasing the LTTE suspects as well as in meting out justice for the alleged atrocities committed during the three decades of separatist war.
Therefore, Basil Rajapaksa’s visit to Jaffna last week was an ‘eye opener’ for the previous regime to understand where they went wrong in getting the support of the Northerners and the Easterners as also a wakeup call to the present regime not to repeat the same errors his brother had committed in dealing with the North and the East.