Not only the oil farm in Trincomalee, which was originally built by the British but also our souls and moral values have been traded to the looters.
Editorial
The Port of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka is the second-largest natural harbour in the world. There is a large Indian property in Trincomalee. Yes, it belongs to India, they argued. In fact, India will not hesitate to keep its ownership over this invaluable property by hook or by crook. It is a large farm of 99 refuelling tanks with a capacity of 12,000 kiloliters each. It is indeed subject to the sovereignty of Sri Lanka, but thanks to the so-called Indo-Lanka Accords signed in 1987, Sri Lanka had to transfer ownership of the farm to the neighbouring Messiah, who once armed and protected the separatist Tamil militants. That’s the naked truth behind the realpolitik of the so-called World’s largest democracy. More important than the document, officially known as the Indo-Lanka Accord, was the letter written by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India who was hunted by LTTE, a terror outfit milked by his mother and successors, for humiliating their struggle to then the President JR Jayewardene of Sri Lanka. Some say that Jayewardene immediately sought the support of US President Ronald Reagan after reading the letter. But Reagan did not value Jayawardene's demand to a cent. The United States misled Sri Lanka in the same way it misled Pakistan. The US administration has proven throughout history that they can never be trusted. Betrayal is inherent to their genealogical sequences. In the end, Jayewardene had to bow to the Indian order named “Indo-Lanka Accord”. The accord is a vicious unilateral order designed by India to assert regional power rather than an agreement to ensure peace in the Island nation.
Out of pseudo-political ideology, out of love for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, India has always sought to portray this agreement as the essential document for a genuine political solution in Sri Lanka. But it is a trade deal than a political settlement. This so-called agreement has transferred the ownership of the oil farm in Trincomalee to India indefinitely and prevented Sri Lanka from operating any foreign broadcasting company without Indian permission. That is why we say that this infamous Indo-Lanka Accord is more of a trade deal than a political agreement. A pseudo-political dialogue has been culminated in the country to cover up this nefarious deal. As a result, not only political parties and groups but also certain media outfits operating in the country get large sums of “financial assistance”. Some credible sources point out that one news website alone is paid close to a million rupees a month by a neighbouring country to publish news and views against Chinese investments in Sri Lanka and spread positive views about the country representing the funding source. In such a context, is it not tragic that the Indo-Lanka Accord signed some thirty-five years ago undermined Sri Lanka's sovereignty and paralyzed the national economy? Not only the oil farm in Trincomalee, which was originally built by the British but also our souls and moral values have been traded to the looters. It is hard to find people in this country who have the strength and intelligence to initiate any substantive debate about any of these pivotal issues of national interests. We have only political slaves who are bragging about their misdeeds and stupidities as heroic acts of patriotism.
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| See the body language of Sri Lankan representations during the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987 |
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