Following talks with AKD

… decision on moratorium on foreign research vessels pending

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has disclosed a bilateral consensus on what he called ‘Security Cooperation Agreement’ with Sri Lanka following discussions he had with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.According to the English translation of Premier Modi’s statement originally made in Hindi at the joint media briefing held on Dec 16, the proposed agreement would be finalised soon.

The statement quoted Premier Modi as having said that they were in full agreement their security interests were interconnected. “We have decided to quickly finalise the Security Cooperation Agreement. We have also agreed to cooperate on hydrography,” the BJP leader was quoted as having said.

However, according to Indo-Lanka joint statement titled ‘Fostering Partnerships for a Shared Future’ that was also issued on the same day, the two leaders agreed to look into the possibility of finalising a framework agreement on defence cooperation.

Defence hadn’t been separately included in the joint statement that was issued following former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to New Delhi in July last year.

The proposed ‘Security Cooperation Agreement’ had been comprehensively dealt under ‘Strategic & Defence Cooperation’ with the leaders declaring readiness to advance maritime and security collaboration.

During President Dissanayake’s recent state visit to India, New Delhi had obviously again raised objections to Chinese research vessels visiting Sri Lankan ports. Indian Foreign

Secretary Vikram Misri dealt with this issue during a special media briefing held the day after the issuance of a joint statement.

Keshav Padmanabhan of The Print asked the Foreign Secretary whether berthing of research vessels at Sri Lankan ports had been taken up with President Dissanayake. Padmanabhan also wanted to know whether Sri Lanka has extended its moratorium on such visits by another year.

President Wickremesinghe declared a moratorium on research ship visits in 2024.

The transcript of the Foreign Secretary’s briefing quoted Misri as having said “With regard to the issue related to the berthing of research vessels, etc., our understanding is that the Sri Lankan government is looking at this issue.

There are a number of considerations that they need to take into account. We did highlight from our perspective the role that India could play in a number of activities related to Maritime Security, Maritime Research, etc.

As I mentioned in my earlier remarks as well, we pointed to the importance and the sensitivity of our security interests in this area. President Dissanayake was very upfront in saying that he would ensure that nothing was done by using Sri Lankan territory that might impact India’s security. So, we will continue to engage with the government of Sri Lanka on all these issues and we are confident that issues of importance such as these will continue to be given due care by the government of Sri Lanka.”

National People’s Power (NPP) government is yet to indicate its position on Wickremesinghe moratorium on ships. Wickremesinghe made the announcement following intense US and Indian pressure over Chinese ship visits to Hambantota and Colombo harbours. However, the then Foreign Minister Ali Sabry declared during an official visit to Tokyo that the moratorium would end at the end of this year.

Foreign Secretary Misri is on record as having told the New Delhi briefing that there had been a session of restricted talks between President Dissanayake and Premier Modi at the Hyderabad House before delegation-level talks.

President Dissanayake told the joint media briefing that they carried out a comprehensive review of the current status of Indo-Lanka relations and exchanged views on the ways and means of further strengthening bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest in the future.

Although there had been no mention of a Security Cooperation Agreement, President Dissanayake said that they exchanged views on cooperation in the fields of defence and security, power and energy, training and capacity building, education, agriculture and social security.

Police ordered to arrest the monk

The Colombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday (19) issued a warrant for the arrest of the General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Organisation, Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera. He is a defendant in a case filed for insulting Islam and did not appear before the court.

The verdict in the case was to be delivered yesterday. However, the court decided to put off the announcement of the verdict due to the absence of Gnanasara Thera. Hi informed the court that his client could not attend proceedings due to illness.

Taking the presented facts into consideration, Colombo Additional Magistrate Pasan Amarasena postponed the announcement of the verdict to January 9, 2025, while ordering that the thera be arrested and produced in court.

The Cabinet of Ministers has authorised the State Trading Corporation to import up to 30,000 tonnes of non-iodised salt to meet a supply shortfall.

Cabinet spokesperson and Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa told the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing that the salt imports would be completed by 31 Jan. 2025.

Jayatissa said that although Sri Lanka was self-sufficient in salt production, recent months of excessive rain had caused a decline in the salt production.

The government anticipated a salt shortage for both domestic and industrial use during the first quarter of 2025, and that had prompted it to import salt, Dr. Jayatissa said.