Wickremesinghe will undertake an official visit to India at the invitation of PM Modi….reports Asian Lite News
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit India on Friday and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Indian counterpart Droupadi Murmu.
It is the first visit of Wickremesinghe to India since he took up the role of President. During his visit, President Wickremesinghe will meet his Indian counterpart and hold discussions with the Prime Minister and other Indian dignitaries on various issues of mutual interest, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Wickremesinghe will undertake an official visit to India at the invitation of PM Modi.
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The visit will reinforce the longstanding friendship between the two countries and explore avenues for enhanced connectivity and mutually beneficial cooperation across sectors.
Earlier, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra visited Sri Lanka Wickremesinghe’s scheduled visit to India.
Kwatra arrived in Sri Lanka on July 10 night on a two-day official visit to take stock of several Indian projects and prepare the ground for Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe’s trip to India next week.
During his visit, he met Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry and his Sri Lankan counterpart Aruni Wijewardane.
India, under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, has always come forward to help debt-ridden Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is an important partner in India’s Neighbourhood First Policy and Vision SAGAR.
The island nation plunged into a financial crisis after the Covid-19 pandemic affected tourism, which is considered the country’s economic backbone, and remittances from citizens working abroad fell. The war in Ukraine escalated the crisis as prices for imports, particularly fuel, rose sharply due to soaring inflation. And in such a situation, India offered its help to the debt-ridden country.
Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves.
Lawmakers urge power sharing
A group of lawmakers from Sri Lanka, representing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “prevail” upon their President Ranil Wickremesinghe to fulfil the commitments made to India with regard to sharing powers of governance, Colombo Gazette reported.
In the letter, TNA leader R Sampanthan said the Tamil People’s safety, security, identity and existence as a nation are inseparable from India’s national security, especially in its southern neighbourhood. “We respectfully urge Your Excellency to prevail upon the President of Sri Lanka when he visits New Delhi around the 21st of July 2023, to fulfil the commitments made to India with regard to sharing powers of governance with the Tamil People of the North-East in Sri Lanka without any further delay,” he said.
Over the years, the party or leader holding the reins of administration in the island-nation had promised a power-sharing arrangement with the Tamilian government but failed to do so.
The letter read, “First, in 1993, then the government proposals for constitutional reforms in 1995 and 1997 under President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, and the Constitutional Bill of 2000, all proposed extensive devolution of power and abandoned the unitary state structure.
Later, in December 2002, talks were held between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in Oslo. Also in 2006, then President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed an All Party Representative Committee (APRC) and a committee of experts to formulate proposals for a new constitution, reported Colombo Gazette.
Sampanthan said, “Today, my top priority is to make the States in India stronger. I am a firm believer in cooperative federalism. So, we are devolving more power and more resources to the States. And we are making them formal partners in the national decision-making process.”
“However, in total disregard of the pious promises and repeated assurances on its part, the Sri Lankan State has not only failed to fulfil its commitments but has also attempted to abort the implementation of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution by resisting brazenly the continuous demands for the devolution of land and police powers and by misappropriating powers already enjoyed by the provinces by legislative manipulations,” he added.
This has led to a crisis of confidence with regard to the willingness on the part of the Sri Lankan state in honouring its obligations under the Indo-Lanka Accord in the resolution of the National Question.
The party stated that they believed their people’s safety, security, identity and existence as a Nation is inseparable from India’s national security, especially in its southern neighbourhood. Sadly, the twin purposes for which the Accord was signed, namely, the safety and security of the Tamil People and the security of India, remain elusive even after the lapse of 36 years., according to the Colombo Gazette, citing the letter. (ANI)
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