Is Gotabhaya Ranil’s foreign affairs adviser?
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Political circles in Colombo are wondering these days as to whether former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has been given the position of foreign affairs adviser to prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
This is mainly due to a controversial remark made by the PM in an interview with an Indian television channel in which he said the Sri Lanka Navy cannot be blamed if they shoot at Indian fishermen violating the island’s territorial waters.
“If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed...Law allows me to do that,” he said.
It is ridiculous that as a lawyer, Mr. Wickremesinghe cannot differentiate between breaking into a house and straying into territorial waters. He should explain to the lawyers of both countries as to how the right of private defence could be applicable to a fisherman catching fish.
The Sri Lanka-India fishing row did not begin recently, but it has a history of several centuries. It worsened due to the silly, shortsighted actions of former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. But, he did not resort to shooting at the Indian fishermen for having violated the territorial waters. He only arrested them. It is not becoming of incumbent premier Wickremesinghe to make statements to the gallery in order to appease the communalists.
He similarly got things mixed up over the port city project. Before the presidential election, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the project would be halted after coming to power. He said so in order to please India, which fully supported to expel Rajapaksa, and not after carrying out a feasibility study for the project. Now, the port city project has boomeranged on the ‘Yaha Paalana’ government. Ranil says one thing, Rajitha says another, and the entire lot is playing hell all over the place.
As a seasoned statesman, Mr. Wickremesinghe should understand the regional politics. In the South Indian politics, the fisher community has a sizeable vote base and is valued higher among the entire Indian voters. Anything that affects them in turn affects the South Indian politics. The PM is making this foolish statement as Indian foreign affairs minister Sushma Swaraj is making a goodwill tour of Sri Lanka.
In a few days, an Indian prime minister will pay a visit to our country, which incidentally is the first in 27 years. Our premier seems unconcerned by that.
Commenting on this, a veteran critic on international affairs told us, ‘If not for India , Ranil still would have been watching Hindi movies at his old residence in third lane kollpiyiya'
