{"id":154259,"date":"2026-01-21T18:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T01:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=154259"},"modified":"2026-01-21T18:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T01:00:30","slug":"the-bilateral-defence-pact-with-sri-lanka-has-no-unstated-objectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/01\/21\/the-bilateral-defence-pact-with-sri-lanka-has-no-unstated-objectives\/","title":{"rendered":"The bilateral defence pact with Sri Lanka has \u201cNO UNSTATED OBJECTIVES.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)<\/em><\/strong> 2066 Kings Grove Crescent. Ottawa. Ontario K1J 6G1 . Canada<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

20 January 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His Excellency Santosh Jha<\/em>
Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka<\/em>
36-38 Galle Road<\/em>
Colombo 3<\/em>
Sri Lanka<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

cc.Hon. Vijitha Herath,  Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Excellency:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was surprised to read your New Delhi\u2019s Christmas Fairy Tale of 2025 –…the bilateral defence pact with Sri Lanka has NO UNSTATED<\/em><\/strong> OBJECTIVES.\u201d<\/em> It prompted me to ask\u2026\u2019Mirror..mirror\u2026on the wall,<\/strong> Who is the liar of them all?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t believe You Commissioner Santosh!  <\/strong>Since when did you all honestly\u201d destroy the police-crowds-controlling bamboo Lathi-stick<\/em> that you all used  like a Step-Mother\u2019s whip to control Sri Lanka\u2019s politicians in the 70s, 80s and 90s, to bring her on line as the other neighbouring countries when Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv\u2019s commanding loud voices ordered –  S R I   L A N K A   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A T T E N T ION \u2026Y O U \u00a0 A R E \u00a0N O W\u00a0 T H E \u00a0 LA T E S T\u00a0 COUNTRY IN\u00a0 TH E\u00a0 I N D O- C A B\u00a0 A\u00a0 L\u00a0 O F\u00a0 IND I A \u2018 S\u00a0 I N D R A\u00a0 G A N D H I\u2019S -M O N R O E \u00a0 D O C T R I N E\u00a0 <\/strong>C O U N T R I E S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right  HC Santosh?   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would like you to consider studying my  well researched compendium of  India\u2019s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step-motherly treatment of your southern neighbour, Sri Lanka, which happened to be my Motherland, separated from your India by the 18 nautical miles of waters of Palk Strait washing over a sand bar of Miocene times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To expose the bullish audacity of your India, who painted yourselves as lily-white having aided and abetted the Northern Sri Lankan separatist-Tamil terrorists for wanting their separate, racist Tamil State of Eelam,\u00a0 were considered as good neighbours. While you all sent thousands of bare footed Sri Lankan- Tamil guerillas to 32 military camps in South India and\u00a0 the foothills of the Himalayas to be trained as Kalashnikov carrying Tamil Tiger terrorists.\u00a0 Who were sent back to Sri Lanka, in military fatigues and Jack boots , carrying Kalashnikovs like babies huddled in their arms, and festoons of live bullets around their necks to destabilize Sri Lanka after having trained them to terrorize Sri Lanka to destabilize that democratic island nation..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you all would violate Sri Lanka\u2019s sovereign- skies with your Operation Poomalai<\/strong> on June 5 1987.   When your Eagle Mission of 5 Antonov An-32 transport military Transport aircraft of No. 7 Squadron, escorted by Mirage 2000 jet fighters parachute-dropped 20-tons of food items for 8,700 Tamils in the Jaffna peninsula to apparently sustain them as you all told the world that they are being starved by the Sri Lankan Government.   What Tosh, High Commissioner Santosh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that is what our friendly neighbour did and watched thousands of Tamils \u00a0clawed on their knees to gather three grains of red lentils to boil in water to drink it as a soup.. \u00a0 Commissioner Santosh, you don\u2019t seem to remember all this, white washing your disingenuous truths with your 2025 Fairy Tale. \u00a0 Shish! Commissioner Santosh. Stop dishing out your sun-dried cakes of Holy-cow crappings from the streets of Tamil Nadu to Sri Lankans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0Here’s what I had to say for the Canadians to understand the ethnic issue and your Indian’s crass fingering of our Sinhala-kavun pies. \u00a0 Read my letters to editors of leading\u00a0 national Canadian newspapers.\u00a0 \u00a0 Consider\u00a0 them as letters of Study 101s\u00a0 for Indian and Sri Lankan\u00a0 career Diplomats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took that role of an informer of the TRUTH to counter your Indian-FACTS<\/strong>, as follows, in letters to Editors of leading newspapers in Canada where I lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     1. Tamil problem is also India’s:  The Gazette,<\/strong> Montreal, July 22, 1985;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     2.  Indian move; The Ottawa Citizen<\/strong>, December 2, 1986;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     3.  Tamil bases (Indian<\/strong> High Commission Press Attache<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Shashi Tripathi strangely denies the existence of \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Training camps, a sanctuary, and arms source in India<\/strong> for \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sri Lankan Tamil terrorists;The Ottawa Citizen<\/strong>,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0December 19;1986;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     4.    India<\/strong> must wake up to realities,  SUN<\/strong>, May 2, 1987;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a05.\u00a0 \u00a0 Destabilization of Sri Lanka poses threat to states In Indian <\/strong>Ocean region,\u00a0 The Whig Standard<\/strong>, Kingston,\u00a0\u00a0Ontario, May 4, 1987;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a06.\u00a0 \u00a0 Lanka threat (You reported that the Indian Government\u2026\u201d)<\/em><\/strong> The Ottawa Citizen,<\/strong>\u00a0 June 2, 1987;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>7.<\/em>\u00a0Sri Lanka assumes right to self defence. (Gandhi decries slaughter<\/strong>\u2026\u201d) The Toronto Star.<\/strong>\u00a0 June 4, 1987;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     8.     Indian bullying, The Ottawa Citizen<\/strong>, June 24,, 1987;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     9.     Gerol right (Despite what India High Commission’s Sashi Tripathi said about<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                 Ilya Gerol\u2019s “Indian aggression glimmers behind the image of peacefulness\u2026<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              The Ottawa Citizen<\/strong>,  July 23, 1987;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   10.     Indian Troops, The Ottawa Citizen<\/strong>,  April 7, 1988,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              And there are several hundreds of letters more,<\/strong> which will open your <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              eyes after an \u2018Eye-wash\u2019 with your Fairy Tales of your Love-in\u2019s with your<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Southern neighbour, Sri Lanka.   Who always claim that India  is a loving friend <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              of Sri  Lanka?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Your researcher can access my letters on India\u2019s duplicity on her \u2018Good <\/p>\n\n\n\n

               neighbour, Sri Lanka from Lankaweb Archives.<\/strong>\u201d  HC Santosh Jha.   It will be <\/p>\n\n\n\n

               good-night  readings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           .  Yes, of course,there have been certain symbiosis\u2019 exercises  making an effort<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               to be good neighbours\u2026but never lie to the world that you Indians are<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Kid-gloved Goody-two shoes,<\/em><\/strong> when there have been times when you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               all voted against my Sri Lanka at UNHRC gatherings to tighten the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               lasso around her neck and choke her.  How dare you HC Santosh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Here\u2019s proof –  India abstains yet again on UNHRC Resolution, opposed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               by Sri Lanka (October 6, 2022);<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               India votes in favour of UNHRC Resolution censuring Sri Lanka, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

               (May 21, 2013).    Oops!  Are you really  a Sri Lanka friend?  That lie hurts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               I will end this letter sharing an incident that happened  in June 1989 at <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              125 Reid Avenue, Colombo, Sri Lanka, the home of Hon. A.J. Ranasinghe,  <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Minister of Of Communication of President  Premadasa Government.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>THE INCIDENT –  on June 9, 1989<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

             <\/strong> That morning I had gone to Minister Ranasinghe\u2019s residence  to pick<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              up my new Sri Lankan passport which President Premadasa had <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              arranged before I left for Canada.  I had been appointed as the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Deputy High Commissioner at the Ottawa Mission to take care <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              of Communications.  I had left my permanent position at Canada\u2019s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Federal Government as a Middle-Manager in Communications an <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Officer of 20-years.  I had never worked in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Minister Mohammad, the Cabinet Minister for Commerce was present<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              and another person was there who I did not know.   Sita, AJ\u2019s wife was <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              present.           <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              A Sikh gentleman in a turban entered the house in a hurry, and he was<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              introduced to me as a staff member of the Indian High Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              President Premadasa was at Mahiyangama preparing to close the<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Gam Udawa Festival., where he was expecting about 5000 people<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              in attendance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              This Sikh guy surprised me.   He was probing AJR – asking him\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Sir, is Lalith<\/em><\/strong> (Atulathmudali) going to be at the closing ceremony?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Sir, is Gamini <\/em><\/strong>(Dissanayaka) going to be at the closing ceremony?<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              They were both Cabinet Ministers jockeying wanting to be appointed as<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              The Sikh officer didn\u2019t like me asking him, Why does it concern the<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Indian High Commission whether these two Cabinet Ministers <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               would be attending the closing ceremony of the Mahiyangana <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Gam Udawa?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Notwithstanding this Sikh Officer\u2019s probing continued<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Sir, my top man (Dixit) will be attending the ceremony.  Please<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                ask President Premadasa, not to make any comment on the IPKF<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               which will embarrass him\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                <\/em><\/strong>I butted in\u2026\u201dO , No\u2026No\u2026.AJ, you are not going to do anything of<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                that sort\u2026.His top man has a choice.  He can stay at home, if he<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                cannot handle such a situation,   He should realize that your <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Head-of-State, is not a puppet on a string, that his top man at the <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Indian High Commission think that he is the Viceroy of Sri Lanka <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                and can manipulate  President Premadasa, your Head of State.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Obviously annoyed, the Sikh got up from his chair, and started<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                walking towards me in a threatening manner.   I got up. Within <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                seconds the Indian Sikh and I were standing eye to eye, nose to <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                nose, beard\u2019s whisker to  whisker, shouting at each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Ministers Ranasinghe and Mohamad, Sita and the visitor got up and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                retreated to the kitchen. Its wall of which  was separated from the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                dining room wall by a wood-trellis wall from where they could watch <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                what was going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Our voices turned loud and ugly,  One puff from either of us would have<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                dropped the Sikh and myself onto the cement floor rolling with our<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                arms flaying.   It did  not happen.   After about five minutes of this <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                confrontation,   I do not remember what cooled us.  We backed off<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                and each went to our chairs.   My blood was simmering inside me and  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                I am sure so was his too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                My passport arrived.   Ransinghe sent me home at 35 Veluwana <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Road in Dematagoda in his official car.  I was told by AJR, that your<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Sikh at the Indian High Commission had told him. These are<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               the Krishna Menon types, who make our lives difficult\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               My response, High Commissioner Santosh Jha was, Tough tiddy!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               I couldn\u2019t care two pebbles of the River Ganges, rolling down<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               knocking each other silly on a stormy day.\u201d.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/em><\/strong>  <\/em>High Commissioner Santosh Jha, I will bet my last dollar that the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Indian High Commission in Canada found that Sri Lankan High <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Commission in Canada was running a quality  Bullying  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Indian-FairyTale Clipping Service on Sri Lanka, with my challenging <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              every unhealthy statement on my Motherland, Sri Lanka, in the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Print media.   Not one or two but several, not being a Wimp-diplomat\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

             Commissioner Santosh, here is the positive proof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          <\/strong>   One weekday morning in 1992, Dr. Sharma of the Indian High<\/p>\n\n\n\n

             Commission phoned me and invited me to join him  for lunch at the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

             Chateau Laurie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              While having lunch he tells me, Ashok, every time I open the Ottawa <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Citizen, I found a letter from you for the High Commissioner <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               defending  some aspects of Sri Lanka.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              How do you manage to do it?   We can\u2019t get even one letter in\u201d.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              So I walked him through what I do and how to do it.   He appreciated <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              my honesty and willingness to help him.  He thanked me profusely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              I read his next draft of a letter for the Ottawa Citizen<\/em>, which I noted<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              had guidelines of my approach of letter writing to the print-media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               It picked-up ink\u2026and he was in letter-writing business to the media<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               for the Indian High Commission in Ottawa with substantial success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              With respect to you High Commissioner Santosh Jha your<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

             statement that the bilateral defence with Sri Lanka has no<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

             unstated Objectives\u2019, coming from an Indian diplomat who used<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

effectively on Sri Lanka in mid-1987, your bullying’s best tools<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

             of fear, and Rajiv Gandhi<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            useing the low flying Mirage 2000s over Sri Lanka , and had a <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            silver-shining  war ship parked outside the island  facing Sri <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Lanka\u2019s Colombo capital\u2019s waters, to get that Indo-Lanka Accord<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            signed.   I don\u2019t trust your words.  They are good for the birds.  <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            And Rajiv Gandhi boasted to the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist Tamil <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

           Tigers\u2026 “I have given you more than what you asked for, in that <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

           Accord\u201d… as if giving  away his grandmother’s property.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Well\u2026you heard me, Commissioner Santosh Jha loud and clearly <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            as the screaming Indian Mirage 2000 Jet fighter planes that flew <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            over Sri Lanka\u2019s capital, Colombo.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

           Warmly,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s Deputy High Commissioner<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Director of Communications)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

in Ottawa, Canada (June 1989 – June 1994);<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

former Head of Thematic Research, Canadian<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Museums Corporation, Ottawa, Canada<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • \u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.) 2066 Kings Grove Crescent. Ottawa. Ontario K1J 6G1 . Canada 20 January 2026 His Excellency Santosh JhaIndian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka36-38 Galle RoadColombo 3Sri Lanka cc.Hon. Vijitha Herath,  Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka Your Excellency: I was surprised to read your New Delhi\u2019s Christmas Fairy Tale of 2025 –…the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asoka-weerasinghe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154259","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=154259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154260,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154259\/revisions\/154260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}