COLOMBO (News 1st): Foreign News Analyst Dr Kalinga Seneviratne spoke about the consequences Sri Lanka would have to face if the country enters into any agreement with the US.

“We can look at the issues in two ways, one is the Indo-Pacific strategy, which the US, Japan, Australia, and India are involved in and they talk about military alliances, they look at Asia as a theatre of military conflict with China. On the other hand, China is pouring millions of dollars to what they call the BRI or the Belt and Road Initiative where they build bridges and roads and ports and railways to connect Asia, to do trade, for people to travel and for tourism which is more peaceful in nature. If we give in to the Indo-Pacific strategy, it means that it could lead to a military base in Sri Lanka and then China will also want some military presence in Sri Lanka and we could end up like Afghanistan. We have seen in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq on how American forces behave. They have gone and shot local people and killed them and they don’t come under local law and they have to be court-marshalled in America and so the Americans have the power over controlling their military in foreign soil, which is a clear violation of a country’s sovereignty.”

Sri Lanka’s history with Japan

Although historically Japan did not have any conflicts with Sri Lanka, the Japanese had disputes with Sri Lanka during the second world war as a result of Sri Lanka’s affiliation with Britain. The Japanese forces captured Singapore in 1942 in the second world war.

Sri Lanka known as Ceylon at the time was next in line. The Southern coast of the country extending from Koggala was constantly under the watch of the Allied Air Force and Allied Forces. On April 4th in 1942, observers learned, that the Japanese Air Force and Naval Force was reaching Sri Lanka.

According to the information received, the Colombo British officers had the Air Force on alert and armed and on 5th of April in 1942, on Easter Sunday, with Japanese Air Force reaching, the allied forces attacked the Japanese aircraft.

The reports state that the Japanese military might which included 27 aircraft were destroyed. Looking back into the past it is clear that Sri Lanka became a target of the Japanese as a result of our affiliation with Britain. Similarly maintaining strong bonds with America will make Sri Lanka a target of Iran in this present context.

The greatest danger would be, the fact that Sri Lanka is located in close proximity to Iran and falls within the reach of being targetted by Iranian missiles. Against a backdrop of increasing military tensions among world powers, it is important that Sri Lanka acts intelligently and strategically to face the challenging times ahead.

MP Bimal writes to President

JVP Parliamentarian Bimal Ratnayake in a letter to the President requested for all harmful agreements to be terminated considering the growing tensions in the Middle-East. He requests President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to terminate the SOFA agreement signed in 1995, which is viewed as a serious threat to Sri Lanka’s National Security and Sovereignty.

He also called on the President to terminate the ACSA agreement signed in 2007 and renewed by the UNP Government in 2017. The MP requests for the President to bring forward a proposal on the matter to Parliament.

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