Sri Lanka, the island nation has once again in turmoil when the media blared an assassination attempt on their President Maithripala Sirisena, ostensibly engineered by India. In the next couple of days, the President surprisingly dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa in his place. On Ranil’s insistence that he still is the Prime Minister, the President has suspended the Parliament till Nov 16.
The Sri Lankan Parliamentary speaker has recognised Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Primi Minister even as China the hidden puppeteer of the nation congratulated Rajapaksa, a known China ally. India, for records, has maintained a studied silence, though, I trust the discreet diplomacy, which was reflected in the Maldives recently. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the former president of Maldives, stated that India helped in the restoration of democracy in the Maldives. Yameen, the defeated Chinese ally and president, was sticking on to his post, challenging the election results, in which he was trounced.
China has been waving wades of dollars in the form of FDI in infrastructure and entrapping nations, which are around India. Rajapaksa, who had served Sri Lanka as the President between 2009 and 2015 had borrowed heavily from China, from which the country is unable to rise, resulting in surrendering a port, which could endanger India greatly.
It is reported that the Cheng Xueyuan, the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka has been politicking and personally carrying a congratulatory message personally to Rajapaksa, even before he was approved by the Parliament as per convention. China it is rumoured to be inducing legislators with large sums to switch their support in favour of Rajapaksa, according to Ranjan Ramanayake, an MP,
Rajapaksa is a monster, who annihilated Tamil civilians, in his war with Tamil Tigers. Thousands of women were raped, children killed and any able-bodied me of whatever age butchered. The International community is maintaining a distance, save giving press statements that the President should act according to the constitution. Their role was no different during the bitter Tamil war and the genocide after that. No UN war crime team has been allowed into Sri Lanka ever to assess the loss of lives.
In 2013, the UN panel estimated additional deaths during the last phase of the war: Around 40,000 died while other independent reports estimated the number of civilians dead to exceed 100,000.
A peaceful neighbourhood around India is very essential and looking at the Maldives and Sri Lanka episodes, such things are going to be repeated by China in Bhutan and Bangladesh too, as Nepal and Pakistan have already increased their reliance on China.
Ranil Wickremesinghe is a friend of India, and it would be in India’s interest to help reinstate him and defeat China’s manifestations by repulsing Rajapaksa’s backdoor entry.
Sampath Kumar
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