{"id":88144,"date":"2019-05-03T14:07:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T21:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88144"},"modified":"2019-05-03T14:07:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T21:07:26","slug":"impact-of-easter-sunday-blasts-on-lankas-external-and-internal-affairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/03\/impact-of-easter-sunday-blasts-on-lankas-external-and-internal-affairs\/","title":{"rendered":"Impact of Easter Sunday blasts on Lanka\u2019s external and internal affairs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By P.K.Balachandran<\/span> Courtesy Daily Express<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colombo, May 2 (Daily Express): The Easter \nSunday multiple suicide bombings in Sri Lanka have had an impact on the \ncountry\u2019s external relations and on the domestic social, economic and \npolitical front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the impact on the country\u2019s external \nrelations first, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has become quite\n dependent on the US and its Western allies for intelligence on the \nIslamic State (IS) and its world-wide tentacles. The West has been \nfighting with the IS and al Qaeda for many years now and has a fund of \nknowledge and expertise in this matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\u2019s FBI and British \nintelligence officials are already in Colombo participating in the \ninvestigations into the IS network including the National Tawheed \nJamaath (NTJ) and the Jamaathei Millathu Ibraheemi (JMI) which had \ncarried out the blasts in a joint operation on April 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since \nPrime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe feels that the blasts were carried \nout under the command of some elements based outside the island, the \ndependence on international intelligence agencies will only grow, \nespecially since the US Ambassador in Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz has said \npublicly that further attacks are possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reappearance of \nthe IS leader Abu Bakr-al Bhagdadi in a new IS video, his threat to \nfight a long war\u201d and his celebration of the Lanka bombings will enable\n the US to have a foothold in Sri Lanka\u2019s security and political \nEstablishments indefinitely though the US embassy has said that American\n presence will be a short one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After helping the Sri Lankan \nSecurity Forces with vital intelligence on the Tamil Tigers\u2019 floating \nwarehouses\u201d during the war, the US intensified its military involvement \nin Sri Lanka. It has given US$ 39 million in aid for defense-related \nexpenses. A Coast Guard Cutter has been given. Joint naval exercises on \ndisaster management have been held in Trincomalee and Hambantota \nharbors. In addition, there is a logistics agreement and an American Air\n Logistics Hub in Katunanayake airbase, north of Colombo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US \nmilitary and political interest in Sri Lanka is primarily rooted in the \ngrowing Chinese economic (and possibly strategic) footprint in Sri \nLanka. However, it is also believed that the IS could have been \nirritated by the increasing American presence in Sri Lanka, and hence \nthe bombing of places where Westerners gather and where Christians \ncongregate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be that as it may, the addition of the IS factor to the existing China factor helps the US dig its boots into Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as The Sunday Times<\/em>\n reported, the US would like to get all it wants from Sri Lanka while \nSirisena and Wickremesinghe are in power. The Americans know that the \nduo may not get re-elected and the next man in, mostly probably Gotabaya\n Rajapaksa, is expected to be independent if not pro-China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \nWickremesinghe regime is also humoring the US and the West so that the \nWestern nations do not press for the implemention of the UNHRC \nresolutions on human rights in Sri Lanka. The government is said to be \nsigning on the dotted line on pacts suggested by the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is in \nview of this that the opposition Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), led\n by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is vehemently opposing any plan \nto let American troops or American intelligence personnel in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda\n Rajapaksa has said that the bulk of the intelligence work could be done\n by Lankan intelligence, which had only a decade ago broken the cells of\n the deadly Tamil Tigers and eliminated their leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While \nrelations with the US and the West are expected to be a bit problematic \nwith the public mood being against close ties with the US and the West, \nrelations with India are likely to improve because it was India which \nhad given actionable intelligence 16 days before the April 21 blasts \nwhich killed 253 people including 40 foreigners. It had repeated the \ninput two more times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To a man, Sri Lankans are blaming Lankan \nsecurity officials and political leaders for turning a blind eye to the \nintelligence inputs and turning a deaf ear to complaints about Islamic \nradicals in the past three years. However, Sri Lankans will tolerate \nIndia only so long as it remains in the background and does not make its\n presence felt as the US does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s relations with China \nwill be unaffected because in the absence of US and Western investments \nin infrastructure development, the island nation will have to depend on \nChina which has liberally funded the building of roads, railways, \nairports and seaports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the pro-West Wickremesinghe regime has\n given more projects to China than to any other country. However, \nrelations with China will be even more warm if one of the Rajapaksas \ncomes to power in the elections due at the end of 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impact on International Situation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n Catholic leader Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has appealed to political \nparties not to politicize the blasts and has asked them to postpone \nelections to ensure concentration on cracking the terror network and \nmaintaining national peace and harmony. But politicians of all hues are \nusing the blasts to enhance their political chances and weaken their \nrivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody or no political party is communalizing the blasts \nor seeking to humiliate, persecute or attack the Muslims community as \nsuch. They are saying with one voice that the perpetrators of the \nattacks were misguided individuals under the influence of a foreign \nterror group. But Muslim politicians, MPs and Ministers are being \nsingled out for attacks by politicians from other communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\n is because it is believed that Muslim leaders had been pampered by \nsuccessive Sri Lankan governments and that these leaders had misused the\n privileges to continue to do communal politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eastern Province \nGovernor MLAM Hisbullah is being accused of getting Saudi money to set \nup a grandiose Sharia University which could be a breeding ground for \nWahabist\/Salafist ideology, which Islamic terrorists imbibe and uphold. \nSome key Muslim leaders\u2019 staff have been arrested for possessing weapons\n like swords and explosives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Sirisena is using the \npost-blasts fear and apprehension to show that he can take resolute \naction in the interest of the country and live down the image that he \nhas been ineffective for the last four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May Day he \ndeclared that he is ready to sacrifice his life to protect the country \nagainst terror. He has said that terrorists attacked Sri Lanka because \nof his strong anti-drug campaign. He said terror groups survive on drug \nsmuggling and that the IS was enraged because he was coming down heavily\n on drug trafficking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has promised action against officials who\n did not act on the intelligence made available by India. A good number \nof conspirators have been arrested under his orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While \nSirisena\u2019s actions are appreciated, there is still a deep-rooted feeling\n that he has been a weak leader under the thumb of Prime Minister Ranil \nWickremesinghe who himself had not been a hands-on man. There is a \ngeneral yearning among Sri Lankans, including Muslims, that the country \nneeds a strong leader who will deliver on all fronts including national \nsecurity and economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The duo \u2013 Mahinda Rajapaksa and\n Gotabaya Rajapaksa \u2013 had delivered on both the national security and \neconomic fronts when they were in power between 2005 and 2014. Gotabaya \nRajapaksa has said that he is going to a candidate for the Presidency. \nIf he is released from US citizenship and he contests, he has the best \nchance of winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to weaken Gotabaya, the President, Prime \nMinister and other ministers are linking him with the National Tawheed \nJamaath (NTJ) whose founder leader Zahran Hashim was a suicide bomber \nand leader of the bombing squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cabinet spokesman Rajitha \nSenaratne said that when Gotabaya was Defense Secretary he had used some\n NTJ members as spies for Military Intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There also a number of cases against Gotabaya in the courts. These cases are being pursued vigorously now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy Daily Express Colombo, May 2 (Daily Express): The Easter Sunday multiple suicide bombings in Sri Lanka have had an impact on the country\u2019s external relations and on the domestic social, economic and political front. Looking at the impact on the country\u2019s external relations first, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has become quite dependent on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88144","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=88144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}