Insight By Sunil Kumar

While President Ranil Wickremasinghe insists that the Nation will maintain good relations with all countries and will take no sides he should also curb his Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry from direct involvement in the ongoing conflict between India and Canada before it becomes an embarrassment to Sri Lanka straddled with her own issues to contend with.

Thus it was indeed surprising to see Foreign Minister Ali Sabry making a statement to the International Media  on the recent Indo-Canada conflict which has no relevance to Sri Lanka whatsoever and could easily be misinterpreted as meddling without a mandate.

His statement which seems to have been a personal one rather than being Sri Lanka’s official view, Sabry has  launched a scathing attack on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his allegations against India, which Sri Lanka has neither relevance nor any privy to as his officious tone of voice could have far reaching ramifications to the good relations existing between Sri Lanka and Canada.

Sabry has said that” some of the terrorists have found safe haven in Canada” which in a sense has its realities in a relative sense as Canada has a reputation of harboring support towards the Tamils seeking secession who have sought refuge in Canada.

In the minds of many analysts it has been seen that Canada has often been sympathetic towards the Tamil cause and struggle for secession despite it being a violation of Sri Lanka’s Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity

It may be acceptable from some perspectives to see Sabry take on Trudeau when it comes to local affairs which might involve people of Sri Lankan origin but what seems to be unwanted at this moment of time is to see Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister interfering in a conflict between India and Canada and further dampen relations over a matter which bears no relevance to the Nation he is the Foreign Minister of and a Nation which is very supportive of Sri Lanka’s needs over decades.

It will be interesting to see if President Wickremasinghe also maintains the same view as Sabry relevant to the Foreign Minister who has openly made this statement over a conflict which does not involve the State,and whether he will get Sabry to maintain the PM’s own trend of thought  by saying that Sri Lanka will not take sides with either India or Canada.

Bearing in mind that  Sri Lanka has her own major issues to cope with presently and can definitely do without interfering in conflicts which do not concern the Government or the Nation, Sabry and others of his standing  could well do with maintaining a position of diplomacy rather than involving themselves with issues beyond their jurisdiction.

To reiterate : Sri Lanka has her own battles to cope with and can definitely do without interfering in conflicts which do not concern the Government or the Nation.