Calls for Robert Mugabe to quit after he reads wrong speech at parliament

Zimbabwe’s 91-year-old president ‘no longer fit for purpose’, says opposition after mix-up at opening of parliament

Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe, who at 91 is Africa’s oldest leader. Photograph: Reuters

Reuters in Harare-Tuesday 15 September 2015

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s 91-year-old president, has read out the wrong speech at the opening of parliament, an error the main opposition used to question whether Africa’s oldest leader was still of a sound mind.

Mugabe, the only ruler the southern African state has known since it was recognised in 1980, delivered the same speech he gave on 25 August, pinning his hopes on China to help revive Zimbabwe’s struggling economy.

He finished the speech without interruption and his spokesman blamed officials, adding that the president would read the correct speech at a later date.

“The mix-up happened in his secretarial office. Therefore the delivery in parliament should be set aside,” spokesman George Charamba was quoted as saying by the online edition of the government-owned Herald newspaper.

But the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which is critical of Mugabe’s long rule, said the blunder called into question his fitness to hold office.

Mugabe shows no visible signs of illness and has denied reports that he suffers from prostate cancer. He has dismissed a fall at Harare airport on 4 April as a simple slip.

“This is a historic blunder. Anyone who is still of a sound mind would have quickly picked it up that the speech was the wrong one,” MDC spokesman Obert Gutu told Reuters. “But it dovetails with what we in the MDC have been saying that Robert Mugabe is no longer fit for purpose. He should resign.”

Earlier, parliament suspended live television and radio broadcasting of Mugabe’s speech after the MDC threatened to disrupt the event.

MDC MP Innocent Gonese told parliament the opposition would disrupt proceedings to protest against anonymous death threats made against them.

The speaker, Jacob Mudenda, however, warned MDC members they would face contempt charges. Broadcasting was then suspended before Mugabe started his speech.

The opposition had booed and heckled Mugabe about the deteriorating economy during his speech in August.

Mugabe arrived at parliament in a vintage black Rolls-Royce with his wife Grace, and inspected a guard of honour. The 91-year-old leader was also treated to a flypast by three fighter jets and to a 21-gun salute.

Her brain tormented her, and doctors could not understand why

(Mehmet Salih Guler/iStock)

By Aleszu Bajak-September 14

“I hate myself, and my brain,” Pam Tusiani wrote in her journal while under 24-hour watch on the fourth-floor psychiatric ward of Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital. “Nothing is worse than this disease.”

Her Brain Tormented Her, And Doctors Could Not Understand Why by Thavam Ratna

New Ebola death reported in northern Sierra Leone

DISPATCH TIMES

BY NEWSMEDIAON SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

Health authorities in northern Sierra Leone had to quarantine the individuals after a 16-year-old girl died of Ebola in an apparent case of sexual transmission.

In August, Sierra Leone’s last known Ebola patient was released from a hospital after recovering, a milestone that allowed the West African nation to begin a 42-day countdown toward being declared free of Ebola transmission. But since then a new spate of cases has erupted, leaving two dead and five people in treatment.

NERC described the case as “disappointing” but said response teams had been well prepared for coping with such an event. “Three patients who came into contact with the girl at another health facility have also been taken to the treatment unit”.

The teenager died Sunday in the northern city of Makeni, the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) said Monday, two weeks after the death of a 67-year-old food trader in a neighbouring district.

According to initial suspicion is that the girl got Ebola after having sex with a survivor of the illness, but this has not yet been confirmed. This possibility now raises concerns that the virus may survive longer in sperm as the survivor in question was discharged in March this year after spending many more days than the 90-day period during which the virus is said to be active in sperm.

Upon that, the entire Makeni village of over 700 people was put under quarantine, including seven high risk relatives of the deceased.

Abduction, torture and sexual violence by forces is continuing 

Sep 14, 2015

Abduction, torture and sexual violence by forces is continuing despite the change of government in Sri Lanka. A new film by the International Truth and Justice Project contains interviews with two Tamils survivors, who describe how they were abducted in Sri Lanka’s notorious “white vans” this year. They do not show their faces for fear of on-going reprisals against family members still in Sri Lanka.

“Witness 1” had already undergone repeated torture in the government’s “rehabilitation” programme for former fighters, even though he was a forced recruit who twice deserted the LTTE ranks. On 18 May 2015, ‘Witness1’, attended a Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day event for those who died in the last phase of the civil war. Within days he was abducted and taken to an unknown site where his torturers showed him photographs of himself at the event.

“I was tied to a bench and beaten with sticks and batons on the soles of my feet. Then they put a petrol-soaked polythene bag over my head and they beat me with cables and wires. I lost consciousness.” He was accused of trying to regroup the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE,
a charge he denies. He had however assisted the opposition Tamil National Alliance party. “Witness 2’ was forcibly recruited by the LTTE aged 16 and injured in the war. When he surrendered he did not turn himself in to the authorities but kept a low profile thinking he was too young to attract

attention. After the change of government in January 2015, ‘Witness 2’ thought he’d be safe to go back to his village and join his family. Within a week he was abducted in a “white van”, brutally tortured and gang raped.

These cases are among a total of eleven cases of security force torture and sexual violence that occurred in 2015 and have been documented by ITJP. All eleven victims (3 women and 8 men) are now outside Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka plans South Africa-style commission to confront war crimes

The United Nations headquarters building is pictured though a window with the UN logo in the foreground in the Manhattan borough of New York August 15, 2014.-REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI

 BY STEPHANIE NEBEHAY- Mon Sep 14, 2015

Sri Lanka's new government said on Monday it was setting up a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation commission to look into atrocities during its civil war, as it came under renewed pressure to prosecute perpetrators.

South Africa, which confronted its own apartheid-era crimes through such a body, would advise the nation on how to use the commission to provide remedy to victims and to track down missing people, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

He outlined the plan, and other proposals to set up a criminal justice mechanism and compensate victims, to the U.N. Human Rights Council, hours after the world body announced it would release a long-delayed report on Wednesday calling for accountability for Sri Lankan war crimes.

Successive governments have promised to look into crimes committed by both sides during the 26-year conflict between government forces and separatist "Tamil Tiger" rebels.

According to an earlier U.N. report, around 40,000 ethnic minority Tamils were killed in a final offensive ordered by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2009.

But world organisations have been frustrated by a string of failed plans and a lack of criminal indictments.

Samaraweera said the government planned an independent and credible "Commission for Truth, Justice, Reconciliation and Non-recurrence.

"The reputation of the vast majority of armed forces was tarnished because of the system and culture created by a few people in positions of responsibility," he said, without elaborating.

INTERNATIONAL, INDEPENDENT

Rights groups say Sri Lanka has failed to address continuing incidents of torture by the police and military against minority Tamils, whose leaders call for an international investigation.

"We will judge the government by the actions they take, not the promises they make," Fred Carver, director of the Sri Lanka Campaign, told Reuters on Monday.

Human Rights Watch urged the council to set out concrete benchmarks for an effective justice and accountability mechanism, including a majority of international judges in an independent system and an independent international prosecutor.

"The families of Sri Lanka’s dead and disappeared have waited years and in some cases decades for justice. This Council must not fail them," said John Fisher of the New York-based group.

Within the commission, leaders from the island's main religions would form a "Compassionate Council" to help victims "discover the truth, understand what happened and help remedy any sense of injustice", Samaraweera said.

The United Nations was meant to release its report on Sri Lanka in March, but agreed to hold off for six months to let the new government look into why suspects had not been prosecuted.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who defeated Rajapaksa's bid for a third term in January, has made tentative steps towards reconciliation at the head of a broad reform coalition.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein praised the government's efforts but said it was time to publish the report whose findings were "of the most serious nature".

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, additional reporting by Shihar Aneez in Colombo and Douglas Busvine in New Delhi; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Sri Lanka Plans Legal, Political Change to Foster Postwar Reconciliation

U.N. set to release report on Sri Lanka civil war

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera speaks during the 30th regular session at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Sri Lanka told the U.N. Human Rights Council it plans to implement change to foster postwar reconciliation with the country’s Tamil minority. PHOTO: UN PHOTO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

By UDITHA JAYASINGHE-Sept. 14, 2015 12:19 p.m. ET

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Sri Lanka told the United Nations Human Rights Council Monday that it plans to implement institutional, legal and political change to foster postwar reconciliation with the country’s Tamil minority.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera outlined the South Asian nation’s plans in Geneva just days ahead of the scheduled release of the UNHRC’s report on its investigation into alleged war crimes and other human rights violations during and after Sri Lanka’s civil war.

Mr. Samaraweera called for a “patient understanding” to give the country time to implement the measures including giving more political power to Tamil regions, establishing a new constitution and investigating wartime disappearances.

The UNHRC findings on alleged human rights abuses is scheduled to be released Wednesday in Geneva. The unveiling of the results is an important step in the island nation’s attempts to take responsibility for its past and punish those guilty of abuse.

Analysts say how the country reacts to the report will also set the pace of reconciliation between the country’s Sinhalese majority and its Tamil minority.

In 2009, Sri Lanka’s former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, brought the island’s civil war to a close in a brutal offensive. The 27-year conflict had pitted Sri Lankan government forces against separatist outfit the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam.

ENLARGE

Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil women cry at the graves of their relatives who died in fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels. PHOTO: ERANGA JAYAWARDENA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A 2012 U.N. report estimated that as many as 40,000 civilians died during the last phase of the war, most of them Tamils. The report documented atrocities committed by both sides of the conflict.

The new UNHRC report will be released by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday and debated on Sept. 30.

In Geneva on Monday the high commissioner touched upon the Sri Lankan investigation saying the findings were of “the most serious nature.”

Foreign Minister Samaraweera said Sri Lanka will establish a Commission for Truth, Justice, Reconciliation and Non-recurrence to remedy instances of discrimination to promote reconciliation between the minority Tamil community and Sinhalese majority.

Sri Lanka “remains firmly committed to the welfare of all its citizens, remains open to dialogue, and (is ready) to address difficulties and deficiencies with help and assistance from the international community where required,” he said.

However, Mr. Samaraweera stopped short of outlining what legal action the state was ready to take against those implicated.

Some observers say any investigation and prosecution of alleged war crimes and other human rights violations has to be done outside of Sri Lanka. Some of the people that could be implicated, analysts say, still hold positions of power in the government and military.

”We believe an international investigation is necessary for this process to be acceptable,” said Suresh Premachandran, a member of the Tamil National Alliance, the main opposition party.

Open Letter Calls for International Judicial Process for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Sri Lanka

Monday, September 14, 2015

An open letter from a group of eminent international citizens to member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council to ensure justice, truth, and peace for all in Sri Lanka.

Dear colleagues at the Human Rights Council,

In 2009, the international community failed to prevent the terrible systematic massacres, war crimes, rapes, and executions that marked the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war. Tens of thousands of civilians died as a result – most killed by government forces, although the Tamil Tigers too killed civilians. By its failure to prevent these crimes, the international community failed to uphold fundamental principle of the UN: when a state manifestly fails to protect its own people against crimes such as these, the international community has a responsibility to protect the population. 

Open Letter Calls for International Judicial Process for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Sri Lank... by Thavam Ratna

UN should probe war crimes in Sri Lanka: Ramasamy

September 14, 2015 

United Nations should probe the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, Indian Second Deputy Chief Minister, Penang, Malaysia, P. Ramasamy, has said in Coimbatore.

Addressing journalists at the airport, he said that whether or nor India supported such a move, countries around the world must come forward to urge the UN to conduct a probe as that would bring out the truth, The Hindu newspaper reported today.

Any internal investigation by Sri Lankan agencies was not acceptable. He also said the Sri Lankan government must return the lands taken away from Tamils.

Ramasamy is in India to participate in the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s meeting at Palladam on September 15.

OISL findings are of a serious nature: UN 

Rights Chief 

2015-09-14

Hinting at the contents of the report on the international investigation on Sri Lanka carried out by the UNHRC, which set for public release on Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein notes the findings of the OISL (OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka) are of ‘the most serious nature’. 

In the opening statement, which High Commissioner Zeid is due to deliver at the opening session of the 30th UNHRC session this afternoon he states that while the vision and commitment shown by President Maithripala Sirisena and the new government is welcome, the UNHRC owes Sri Lankans to ensure an accountability process that produces results and moves beyond the failures of the past.

 “I welcome the vision shown by President Sirisena since his election in January 2015, and the commitments made by the new Government under his leadership. But this Council owes it to Sri Lankans - and to its own credibility - to ensure an accountability process that produces results, decisively moves beyond the failures of the past, and brings the deep institutional changes needed to guarantee non-recurrence,” the High Commissioner will note in his statement. 

The report on the international investigation which came to be known as OISL (OHCHR investigation on Sri Lanka), which was mandated through a US sponsored resolution in March 2014, was due to be released at the last UNHRC session but was granted a ‘one-time only’ deferral. It is set to be released to the public on Wednesday (16) along with the high Commissioner’s recommendations and would be officially presented before the Council on September 30. (Lakna Paranamanna) 

Full Statement of Sri Lanka FM Samaraweera at HRC 30

( Minister Samaraweera speaking at the HRC today)

14/09/2015 

Statement by Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka

General Debate of the 30th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, 14 September 2015

Mr. President

High Commissioner for Human Rights

Excellencies

Distinguished delegates

 I would like to begin by thanking you, and the members of the Council for the trust reposed in Sri Lanka at the 28th Session and agreeing to defer the release of the Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka.

Full Statement of Sri Lanka FM Samaraweera at HRC 30 by Thavam Ratna

Accountability for 'serious nature' of violations in Sri Lanka will need institutional change says UN Rights Chief

14 September 2015

The findings of the UN investigation into Sri Lanka’s atrocities are “of the most serious nature” and will require accountability that “brings deep institutional changes needed to guarantee non-recurrence,” said the UN Human Rights Chief during his opening remarks to the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL) will be released on Wednesday. 

Addressing the council on Monday, Prince Zeid Hussein, said, 

“Six years ago, we were confronted with serious violations and loss of civilian life in the last months of Sri Lanka’s long civil war. This Council has been deeply engaged with the need for accountability, as a necessary step towards reconciliation in that country. On Wednesday I will release the report of the comprehensive investigation that OHCHR was mandated to conduct in March 2014, including my recommendations. Its findings are of the most serious nature. I welcome the vision shown by President Sirisena since his election in January 2015, and the commitments made by the new Government under his leadership. But this Council owes it to Sri Lankans – and to its own credibility – to ensure an accountability process that produces results, decisively moves beyond the failures of the past, and brings the deep institutional changes needed to guarantee non-recurrence.”

30th session of UNHRC commences amidst calls for international accountability mechanism to deal with UN inquiry into Sri Lanka (14 Sep 2015)

HRC30 Opening FINAL Rights Chief.pdf-2015 by Thavam Ratna

Would Mandela Be Killed In Sri Lanka?

By Dinesh D. Dodamgoda –September 14, 2015

Dinesh Dodamgoda

“We may never forget, but we must forgive”

The above words came from former President of South Africa Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, when he was encouraging Miriam Makeba, a South African singer nicknamed Mama Africa, to return to South Africa from exile.^[1]

When rebuilding South Africa, ‘forgiveness’ was the ethos of Nelson Mandela. In Long Walk to Freedom, he wrote, “To make peace with an enemy, one must work with that enemy and that enemy becomes your partner”.^[2]

The principle of forgiveness became the foundation of the South African reconciliation process. In order to initiate the reconciliation process, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was establish as a part of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act passed in 1995. The Act was passed after debated the bill in the parliament for 200 hours.

The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act was based on the principle that ‘reconciliation depends on forgiveness and that forgiveness can only take place if gross violations of human rights are fully disclosed’, offered amnesty to the perpetrators of ‘acts associated with a ‘political objective’.^[3] Therefore, the TRC which helped in healing the wounded South African society had no power of prosecution, or any judicial function. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, later appointed to Chair the TRC, hoped that the TRC would open wounds in order to clean them. As Professor Andre du Toid, an Emeritus Professor in Politics at the University of Cape Town, observed, ‘The South African Commission will be unlike the Nuremburg trials in that it will be concerned with truth not justice.’[4]                                                           Read More

Only India can pull Sri Lanka out of trouble

There is a lot of convergence in the outlook of the leaderships of the two countries than before.

COLONEL R HARIHARAN@colhari2-14-09-2015

Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is neither a stranger to the inner circle of New Delhi politics nor an unfamiliar personality in the North Block. However, during the last one year, his profile has undergone a welcome makeover. This seasoned political leader, known more for his failures than successes in his repeated forays for power, pulled a political coup of sorts. With the help of current Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena, another political veteran though from the opposition, Wickremesinghe thwarted former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's bid for power twice!

The duo defeated Rajapaksa's bid for a third term as president in January, and seven months later, they outsmarted Rajapaksa’s attempt to come back to power using his loyalists in the seemingly more powerful coalition – the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) - in the recently held general election.

As a result Wickremesinghe now enjoys power with public endorsement of his political agenda twice within a year. In spite of political obstacles the Wickremesinghe-Sirisena duo had made some progress in living up to the expectations of the public. Their promises include increasing the accountability of the president to the parliament, empowerment of the prime minister and cleaning up the administration of corruption and cronyism. Their work done so far, though still not completed, has restored Sri Lanka’s credibility which was eroded both at home and abroad by former president Rajapaksa’s autocratic style of governance.

Wickremesinghe is heading a national alliance government - the first since 1977 - in which the ruling United National Party (UNP) and the main opposition, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), have come together. This has increased the chances of promoting a national agenda to focusing on development in an environment of unity, peace and harmony. Former president Rajapaksa failed to do that despite his success in getting rid of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) once and for all. He frittered away five years of peace that followed the military victory in May 2009 by focusing on strengthening his support base. As a result, the socio-political environment was vitiated by acrimony, distrust, religious and ethnic polemics and strife.

This has increased the chances of the present government making further progress in its reform agenda despite widespread cynicism in the political milieu. But Wickremesinghe would be more confident than ever before when he visits New Delhi today for the first time after becoming prime minister.

There is a lot of convergence in the outlook of the Indian and Sri Lankan leaderships than before. Wickremesinghe’s agenda to correct Sri Lanka’s tilt towards China after Rajapaksa had succumbed to its "fatal" charm in areas of strategic security and trade was one such area of convergence. So it was not surprising to find the Wickremesinghe-Sirisena duo welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's renewed efforts to build a broadened and enduring relationship with Sri Lanka when he visited the island nation a few months back. They reciprocated his desire to get rid of other kinks in the relationship between the two countries that had appeared during the earlier regime. This makes the Sri Lankan leader’s New Delhi visit a special one as the Sri Lankan government probably enjoys greater credibility in the corridors of North Block than under Rajapaksa.

Both Wickremesinghe and Sirisena have also shown their readiness to act upon the concerns of both India and the West including the US, which were dealt with superficially during ten years of Rajapaksa's rule. These issues are sure to be included in the Modi-Wickremesinghe talks even if they are not aired in public owing to sensitivity over some of them in both countries.

Both India and the West were irritated by Rajapaksa’s ploy to twist their concerns over his government's dismal human rights record during and after the ethnic conflict to whip up Sinhala nationalism and encourage xenophobia for his political advantage. Similarly, he distorted their insistence on resuming the political dialogue process with the Tamils to resolve their long-standing demand for equity with the Sinhala majority as an encouragement to Tamil separatism.

This had created problems for India as its negative fallout in Tamil Nadu politics adversely affected the fortunes of successive governments in New Delhi. This had cramped India’s efforts to meaningfully contribute to build a win-win relationship with Sri Lanka. This weakness was exploited by China to enter Sri Lanka in a big way.

Though the coalition era has ended in New Delhi, the issue of ethnic amity in Sri Lanka will continue to influence India’s policy not only owing to its impact on Tamil Nadu politics, but also in the interest of national security. India and Sri Lanka are geographically too close to each other, making their national security interests complimentary than contentious. This makes it necessary for them to build a relationship that can be mutually reinforced, notwithstanding their unequal sizes and strengths.

The political dispensation for Sri Lankan Tamils will continue to remain one of lynchpins for the progress of India-Sri Lanka realtions. The Wickremesinghe government had tried to break the impasse in resuming the dialogue process with the Tamils within the ambit of 13th Amendment (13A) to the Constitution which is supported by India. However, it will be politically difficult for the Sri Lankan government to grant land and police powers envisaged in the 13A to the provincial councils. We can expect this issue to come up when Modi and Wickremesinghe meet, though it is a moot point whether it would go beyond making cordial statements.

For both India and the West, Rajapaksa reneging on his promises to them extended their concerns well beyond matters of Sri Lanka’s internal politics; it became a challenge to their strategic power assertion, particularly after he got cozy with China and provided a welcome strategic foothold for the Dragon in Sri Lanka in India’s close proximity and in the Indian Ocean sea lanes through which a bulk of the global maritime trade is conducted. This assumes special significance in light of China increasing assertion of its naval power in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in the Indian Ocean.

From the Sri Lankan perspective, there are some issues where it needs India’s help and understanding. The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) discussion on Sri Lanka’s follow-up actions taken on the US-sponsored resolution passed three years back would come up on Friday, after the report of the UN Human Rights Commissioner is presented. Though the US is likely to modify its insistence on a UN-sponsored international inquiry by accepting a domestic inquiry with the assistance of the UNHRC, Sri Lanka needs Indian support to broaden its support base. Though the US move has met with some political criticism in Tamil Nadu and agitation by fringe elements, egged on by the Sri Lankan diaspora, India has always supported domestic inquiries in preference to international ones. In view of this, the compromise solution suggested by the US would probably be supported by India.  

The second issue is India-Sri Lanka trade. During his Colombo visit, Prime Minister Modi had revived the idea of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Sri Lanka. India had mooted the idea and it almost came through in 2008. However, in the face of protest from local businesses, the Rajapaksa government developed cold feet and gave it up. Sri Lanka is facing exceptional economic crunch and problems of debt-servicing. Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been lukewarm to the idea of lending more to Sri Lanka to service Chinese loans.

So Sri Lanka urgently needs to hold India’s hand to see it through this crisis. However, it will be difficult for the Sri Lankan government to openly support the CEPA as it is probably a no-go area in Sri Lankan politics. However, it appears the country would not be averse to work out an economic arrangement similar to CEPA though it may be called by a different name. This was indicated in a report in The Sunday Times, Colombo which quoted Sri Lankan deputy foreign minister Harsha de Silva as saying that CEPA issues were likely to be among other important issues during the bilateral talks between Modi and Wickremesinghe. He added, “We must push for such agreements with countries like India. However, we must not blindly enter into such agreements. We must study in detail our own experiences and that of other similar countries to negotiate the best deal for us. Any bilateral or multilateral trade agreement that benefits Sri Lanka must be pursued.”

Sri Lanka: Where from here India relations?

N Sathiya Moorthy
11 September 2015

Analysis 
In spite of the change-over to an 'India-friendly' Government in Sri Lanka, a sense of dejavu hangs in the air as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe makes New Delhi his first overseas destination since assuming office in January - and legitimised through a popular mandate last month. India has no real role now and possibly later, too, on the crucial ethnic issue while on CEPA, the least focussed one just now, local constituencies have been assured that PM Ranil "will not decide upon or discuss" it with counterpart Narendra Modi. In between hangs the fishing issue and the China factor, which too seems to be moving along the indecisive non-course. 

Sri Lanka Where From Here India Relations by Thavam Ratna