The "Joint Statement"(JS) issued by Minister G.L. Peiris and his Indian counterpart came as a shock. The contents of the JS are aimed to acknowledge Indian hegemony on Sri Lanka and undermine the sovereign rights of this country. It threatens the existence of this country as an independent nation. In the history of independent Sri Lanka only the controversial Indo-SL Peace Agreement of July 1987 comes close in terms of the devastating long term impact that the JS has created.
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One question that begs an answer is, what were Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry, the High Commission in New Delhi and the so-called "three wise men" the custodians of our relations with India doing when the Indian politico cum bureaucracy was brow beating our Foreign Minister? Did they willingly encourage the Indians to browbeat us by being silent? Or did they agree to subvert Sri Lanka's sovereignty for short term political expediency? The people of this country who are going to face the consequences of this sellout need answers.
The Sunday Times revealed that our Foreign Minister had not included a single officer from the Foreign Office in his official delegation to India on this visit. This is an extraordinary and perhaps unprecedented act by a Foreign Minister and it needs a clear explanation.
This writer has on many occasions pointed out the timid and servile behaviour of our officials especially those who are at the Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi when it comes to serving the interests of our fishermen and protecting our maritime rights. The disastrous JS of Minister Peiris clearly shows that those officials who assisted the Foreign Minister have failed miserably. It is well known that the Indians draft the final statement or communiqué that is to be issued after a diplomatic visit of this nature well in advance and negotiate the contents with the visiting counterparts accredited agents.
It should have been up to the Sri Lanka High Commission in India to have argued our case and avoided this sellout. The Sunday Times has picked two glaring omissions on the part of our officials. i.e. (1) to agree that there is no genuine reconciliation and (2) to have acknowledged the right of Indian poachers to be in the "vicinity" of our shore. Can a Foreign Minister with an iota of self respect agree with an alien counterpart that his Leader back home was engaged in a fraudulent act of any kind?
As pointed out by the Sunday Times this is what our Foreign Minister has done.
The Sunday Times once revealed how the Indians brought from New Delhi the draft Minutes of the SL-India Joint Commission headed by the Foreign Ministers who met in Colombo a few months ago! It was then pointed out that the accepted practice was for the host of the Joint Commission, in this case Sri Lanka, to prepare the draft minutes. Our officials have been mere spectators in this drama directed by the South block. The people who speak about the betrayal of our beloved Maathroo bhumiya are surprisingly speechless at this undiplomatic highhanded behaviour of the Indians.
As this writer has pointed out in a previous letter to the Sunday Times on the eve of the meeting in New Delhi of the so called "Joint Working Group" on fishery last month, acknowledging the presence of India poachers in our waters was a negation of the Maritime Boundary Agreements of 1974. Our Foreign Minister has disregarded the interests of our own fishermen while conceding poaching rights to aliens in our territorial waters. We have repeatedly said that India deliberately encourages large scale poaching by hordes of Tamil Nadu fishermen to overwhelm the Sri Lanka Navy. The current rulers might think that it is the Tamil fishermen of the north who would suffer because of poaching by the Indians and therefore we should not worry much about it. But they must know that by this callous disregard they are undermining the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka which is much graver an offence committed on the nation.
We again say to the Foreign Minister that he should have avoided any reference to the one-sided infamous "October 2008 Press release" that was issued after the visit of a Presidential Adviser. It, for the first time in the history of our relations with India, sanctified the illegal activity of poaching by Indians. What was expected of the Foreign Minister was to argue with the Indians that since normalcy has returned to stay in the north we need to restore in full the legitimate fishing rights of our own fishermen in the territorial waters of Sri Lanka and therefore poaching by Indians must stop now. Instead he has added more damaging conditions from a Sri Lankan perspective to the lopsided "October 2008 Agreement" on fishery.
Any second Somapala or Subramanium on the road will know that the Indian fishermen in the "vicinity" of our shore are not observing sil but are engaged in an illegal activity called poaching while violating Sri Lanka's territorial boundary. Unfortunately our Foreign Minister and the officials who are paid for by the tax payer to defend our rights do not think so.
N.R. Alfred Appuhamy,
Negombo
Erroneous translation of Vesak message
Right of reply
My attention has been drawn to the text of a Vesak message said to have been issued by me and published on page 2 of the Sunday Times of 15th May 2011 which among other things says that I have advised Catholics to listen “to Dhamma Sermons, practise them, and in various other ways cooperate with the Buddhists in making this significant Vesak Poya week a time that will transform their lives to be sincere and sacrificially serve others instead confining it to pandals and lanterns and outward rituals”. I am totally surprised about this translation of the message I issued wishing our Buddhist brethren a joyful Vesak in the Sinhala Catholic paper Gnanartha Pradeepaya of Sunday 15th May 2011. The exact translation of the original Sinhala message is as follows:
“The 17th May 2011 celebration of the 2600th Anniversary of the Enlightenment of the Lord Buddha is an important event which causes great joy for all humanity. At the same time it is a great occasion of religious renewal for Sri Lanka where majority of the population is Buddhist. Sri Lanka is inhabited by a people who adhere to the four major religions of the world. In this religious event, we also join the majority Buddhist community of this country showing our great sense of respect to what is being celebrated.
And so as a mark of respect for them, I request all the others as well as the Catholics to spend this day reverently in a manner that is consonant with their own religious beliefs and traditions. As taught by the Lord Buddha and other religious founders, let us resolve to respect other religions whatever that may be. That attitude is one of the ways in which we would show our appreciation of all those who seek and value spiritual virtues. I wish all our Buddhist brothers and sisters a Happy Vesak Feast.”
As you can note your translation has not been faithful to the original text and has caused misunderstanding among the Catholic faithful. Hence, I kindly request you to publish this correction and give it the same publicity that you gave that mistranslation.
Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith Archbishop of Colombo |
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