{"id":108956,"date":"2020-11-23T17:04:40","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T00:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=108956"},"modified":"2020-11-23T17:04:40","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T00:04:40","slug":"defence-of-the-island-difference-between-1948-and-now-proposal-for-new-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/23\/defence-of-the-island-difference-between-1948-and-now-proposal-for-new-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"DEFENCE OF THE ISLAND – Difference between 1948 and now -PROPOSAL FOR NEW CONSTITUTION"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stanley Gunaratne\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

1. Abolition of Indo Lanka Accord.\nAdoption of a Foreign Policy of Balance to counter regional players. Adoption\nof a “Total Defence” policy based on Psychological, Social, Economic,\nCivil, Digital and Military Defence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following two sections should be\nincluded in a future constitution and national policy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A lesson in history:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. It was a catastrophic,\nincompetent, foolish and UNMITIGATED DISASTER to have abrogated the Anglo\nCeylon Defence Agreement (of 1947) in 1957. <\/strong>This led to a loss of a\nguaranteed ally and assistance in the event of foreign attack. Had we kept it\nin force, then India would have been kept at bay. <\/strong>It was a mutually\nbeneficial agreement and provided an indirect export to Ceylon also. During\nthat period we had an independent foreign policy as proven by the simultaneous\nexistence of this Defence Agreement with Britain and the Rubber Rice Pact with\nChina. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is absolute FOOLISHNESS and\nrevisionist history of leftists to claim that this was somehow a flaw, or “not\nindependence” or a bad situation to be in. Ceylon was FULLY independent\nand its status akin to what Singapore enjoys today in terms of defence. It is\nfurthermore, INSANE for many of these same “critics” to remain silent\non the Indo Lanka Accord which BLATANTLY strips us of our independence and\nability to engage with whomever we damn well please. This so called “non\nalignment” and “neutrality” that we have suffered (not enjoyed)\nhas sadly been nothing more than Indian subservience and the restrictions of a\nvassal state status, to third rate India to add insult to injury! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the original Defence Agreement\nwe enjoyed from 1947:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. It was not constitutionally\nobjectionable (unlike the Indo Lanka Accord)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. It was for an indefinite period\nand allowed for any modification by agreement <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. A commitment by the United Kingdom\nto provide defence against external aggression and for the protection of\nessential communications <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Military assistance included naval\nand air assistance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Bases for forces required for the\npurpose of defending Ceylon would be provided as may be MUTUALLY AGREED and\nonly if required for said defence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. The Government of Ceylon would\nreceive military assistance in the training and development and equipping the\nCeylonese Armed Forces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Unlike other nations at the time\nlike Australia, Ceylon would not have to pay Britain for the upkeep,\nmaintenance and equipment for any forces provided (that were mutually agreed)\nto defend us. This provided us with an indirect export. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Ceylon would have no obligation to\npursue the foreign policy of its partner, nor was it a commitment to any\nalliance. Indeed, Ceylon was protected from the more noisy antics of the\nAmericans and Soviets as well as the hegemonic ambitions of its third rate\nneighbour India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is sad that when one views\nhistorical footage of our Independence Day celebrations of the past in the\n1940s-60s, that we had more planes\/jets then than we do now! How is this\nacceptable?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The removal of this Defence, the\nfailure to make up for this by arming the country to the teeth, the complete\nincompetence at developing the country left us open to India to force itself on\nus leaving us in this dismal state today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This must be reversed and a competent\nDefence and Foreign policy pursued!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stanley Gunaratne\u00a0 1. Abolition of Indo Lanka Accord. Adoption of a Foreign Policy of Balance to counter regional players. Adoption of a “Total Defence” policy based on Psychological, Social, Economic, Civil, Digital and Military Defence. The following two sections should be included in a future constitution and national policy: A lesson in history: 2. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-constitution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108956\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}