By Sunil Kumar for LankaWeb

Aug3rd. 2023

There seems to be no rationality relative to Sri Lanka’s security and sovereignty considered when Land connectivity is essential for the growth of ties between India and its neighbouring country where in the past explosive situations have resulted, yet Sri Lanka High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda has said somewhat misguidedly in an interview with The Hindu posted online on July 31, pitching for connectivity projects resembling the Channel tunnel” from the U.K. to Europe as a possible future initiative if environmental concerns are cleared.

There can be no analogies drawn between Sri Lanka and  India with respect to the UK and France as the situations are completely different as in the case of Sri Lanka it could open dangerous floodgates relative to the security of Sri Lanka which could prove regrettable in the long run where economy  and development are not the precursors of benefit to Sri Lanka considering all the issues relative to security and it would be handing on a platter many openings to India that have been sought after for a long time and kept under lock and key through prudent administrations of the past where lessons should have been learned.

Relative to  President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India in July, where the two countries unveiled an Economic Partnership Vision”

statement that includes maritime, air, energy, trade and people-to-people connectivity, High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda playing an unexpected role as pseudo advisor has said Sri Lanka’s hopes of benefiting from India’s economic growth and coming out of its current economic crisis hinged on being able to build causeways, bridges, pipelines, electricity transmission lines and landing infrastructure so as to increase travel to and from India.But has he also considered the many and vast negative issues that could result vis a vis the many internal issues India faces on a daily basis as well as a burgeoning population that could easilly flood into Sri Lanka as a result of this somewhat obtuse proposal which eventually could overwhelm Sri Lanka from many perspectives and to all intents and purposes become disastrous for Sri Lanka.

The most obtuse statement Mr. Moragoda has made and  perhaps also a precursor to what the President of Sri Lanka has also alluded to, which resonates in the minds of security analysts and guardians of the country’s unitary state  suggest that” building any causeway or highway across the streets will require environmental impact assessments,  If Sri Lanka is looking at this idea of ‘piggybacking’

on India’s growth story we have to have land connectivity but does ‘piggybacking’ mean bending over backwards and being walked all over by India in the long run where Sri Lanka becomes an annexation of Indian territory which is bound to happen and very careful consideration needs to be given to the serious implications for Sri Lanka in such an eventuality.

By his statement “When you talk of timelines for initiatives like this in democracies, it’s more complicated. One understanding between the two leaders(Sri Lanka and India) is to try to encourage the private sector to be more engaged on both sides, which could be more time-sensitive and successful,” he explained. He added that the purpose of the Sri Lankan President’s visit, the first to India since he took over in June 2022, was to chart the way forward” for Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, as the economic vision statement had done, and to thank Mr. Modi and India for the support to Sri Lanka during its debt crisis” does he mean repaying India’s support during the debt crisis by handing over the Nation to India for Indian objectives endorsed verbally by the Indian President not considering the mayhem which could follow from many perspectives and throw the country into turmoil knowing the ever watchful menace of Tamil Nadu in the shadows and what their objective are and always have been?

Has Mr. Moragoda as well as the President considered the ramifications and reprisals for Sri Lanka that  could wipe out Sri Lanka’s existence and functioning as a Sovereign Nation in one of the most myopic concepts formulated ever which seems hard to fathom where overstepping metes and bounds in an administrative capacity in an unprecedented manner seems to be the order of the day!

Are these the ideologies of pundits and visionaries who could disrupt Sri Lanka’s smooth functioning towards progress into the future and annihilate a land of vast beauty and a prehistoric culture which has embellished Sri Lanka for time millenia?

Hopefully not!