Lankan President told cabinet Indian intelligence agency RAW was trying to kill him, says report
Posted on October 17th, 2018
By Meera Srinivasan/The Hindu
Colombo, October 16: In a move that might seriously impair Indo-Lanka relations, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday accused India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of plotting his assassination.
Mr. Sirisena, who was speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting, told Ministers that the Indian intelligence agency was trying to kill” him, but that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may not be aware of the plan,” The Hindu has learnt from sources present at the discussion.
We were just shocked when he said it,” a source said, requesting anonymity.
When contacted for verification, a senior officer at the President’s media unit said: We will verify this and revert.” However, there has been no response till the time of going to print.
Ahead of Ranil’s Visit
President Sirisena’s claim comes days before Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s scheduled visit to New Delhi, where he will meet Mr. Modi to discuss bilateral matters, including key, India-assisted projects on the island.
However, this is not the first time a Sri Lankan leader has accused the Indian agency of interference. Following his poll defeat in 2015, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa held RAW among those responsible for the change in regime. Mr. Sirisena’s allegation, sources at the meeting said, came when he raised concerns over the government’s indifference” to an assassination plot targeting him. Reports of the said plot emerged last month when an individual named Namal Kumara, part of an anti-corruption outfit, claimed he was aware of a plan to assassinate Mr. Sirisena and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The CID interrogated Mr. Kumara. The police subsequently also arrested an Indian national late in September. Local media reported that the Indian, identified as M. Thomas hailing from Kerala, claimed he knew of the plot.
However, the Sri Lankan government issued an elaborate denial to the report and clarifications came from the highest level. Media Minister, Mangala Samaraweera slammed it as a disinformation campaign”, urging reporters to be responsible.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Mr. Sirisena reportedly said the Indian national must be a RAW agent trying to kill me. The Indian PM may not be aware. That is often the case. Trump may not be aware of CIA’s similar moves.”
The Hindu, on Tuesday evening, spoke to multiple sources in government — across political parties — who attended the meeting, and they confirmed this.
Tuesday’s meeting also saw a heated argument between President Sirisena and Mr. Wickremesinghe, when a cabinet paper on developing the Colombo Port came up for discussion. Sources said Mr. Sirisena vehemently objected to any Indian involvement in upgrading its east container terminal – a project that New Delhi has been keen to take up.
(The featured image at the top shows President Maithripala Sirisena)
October 16th, 2018 at 3:43 pm
At last Sirisena is showing some ability to think.
India’s plan is clear. SWRD Bandaranaike and Premadasa paid the ultimate price for going against India. Looks like India is very keen to do the same to Sirisena and Gotabaya in favour of Ranil, Chandrika, Mahinda, Namal and Basil. Modi is obviously behind this. In May 2017, Modi refused to meet with Gotabaya at India House in Colombo. He only allowed Mahinda for a closed door discussion. Namal was very well received by Modi last month.
Gotabaya’s presidential prospects suffered a serious drop after that visit. May be Sirisena and Gotabaya should join forces for the common good of the nation. The two have excellent relations having worked together during the war. Sirisena was Acting Defence Minister on 5 occassions. They don’t seem to criticise each other.
Sirisena (or anyone for that matter) must be supported by all patriotic people in his efforts to save Sri Lanka from India. It is true he was helped by India to become president but at last he has come to the right path. Sadly, some others have now become pro-Indian. Typical of Lankan politics.
Misfortune of the nation ensures most people are driven by clan politics and love/hate of politicians. They cannot see things as they are.
October 16th, 2018 at 9:29 pm
My3 has just awaken from the deep sleep when he realised that he is heading nowhere with the UNP because he has seen general public do not want to the governments to sell our assets to outsiders.
If India want to get rid of him, RAW will do it clandestinely. They did it nicely and professionally with SWRD and RP’s assassinations, with well-planned system and all involving local operators. This Indian guy must be an agent of RAW acting stupid for a reason. If he is a real killer, he won’t get himself exposed by going to Namal Kumara’s house and WW’s house publicly. There must be a bigger thing happening in the background which we cannot see. May be he is only gathering information for RAW.
If My3 is in real suspicion that he is marked for killing, he will first order arrest of the DIG Nalaka Silva who is just enjoying a paid break at home despite having legitimate voice recording evidence.
This guy My3 is a cunning fellow who is looking for getting the people’s sympathy now. If he is really patriotic, where was he when they gave Hambanthota to China, when they were harassing our Intelligence officers, when they were robbing the Central Bank for the second time.
He is now worrying about his political / social future. He has realised the patriotic feelings of the masses and decided which camp he has to settle down to be regarded as a respectable ex-president.
He has read the game rightly at least at the 11th hour and at least to cover his image, given a statement at the UN that no country should interfere with us and allow us to manage our own investigations etc. etc. If he is genuinely interested to protect Mother Lanka, he should withdraw our co-sponsorship to the US resolution.
While in the US, he has also told the Sri Lankan community that he is the one who finished the war while others were hiding. This guy has gone crazy.
@ Dilrook, don’t get carried away. He is capable of stabbing you from back. I don’t think any leader who can do such thing
October 16th, 2018 at 9:32 pm
Correction:
I can’t think of any leader who can fall to such low level.
October 17th, 2018 at 4:01 am
Puppet the Rubber stamp vairapala narisena meant RW not RAW!
October 17th, 2018 at 6:09 am
Not good enough ! Could have left out the “Mody unaware” nonsense.
Whoever prepared to boldly declare “India is our enemy” should be supported.
Whoever cowardly declare ” India is our friend” shall be defeated. Period.
October 18th, 2018 at 8:16 am
Only highly intelligent students with high grades get a chance to enter Indian military service and they get rigorous training before they are inducted into service. I think the southerners dominate the service and they consider it an honour to serve in the military. I knew of a southern Maths teacher whose very bright two sons joined the army. One of them died while swimming in a river undergoing training. The teacher got so upset that he resigned from service and went back. This spy (or killer) Thomas supposed to have given tuition to our students in Colombo area. This confirms his level of education.
I wish we had that selection and training process for our military and Police service instead of recruiting without proper qualifications like Nalaka Silva.