Category: News

Sri Lanka has allowed permission to the Chinese built-Pakistani guided missile frigate PNS Taimur to make a port call at Colombo while on its way to join the Pakistan Navy in Karachi. Build by Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai, the warship is on its maiden voyage to Pakistan while exercising en-route with Cambodian and Malaysian navies. The ship is expected to be at Colombo port from August 12-15, 2022.

While Sri Lanka gave permission to the Pakistani guided missile frigate to make a port call at Colombo, it is understood that the ship was denied a permission to make a port call at Chattogram port by the Sheikh Hasina government from August 7-10 after making a port call at Lumut port in Malaysia.

According to diplomatic sources, India’s close ally Bangladesh denied permission to PNS Taimur as August is a month of mourning for Sheikh Hasina as her father, Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman also fondly called Bangabandhu, was assassinated by Pak instigated and Jamait-e-Islami inspired radical Islamist forces on August 15, 1975.

The Sheikh Hasina government is close to Narendra Modi government with the Bangladesh Prime Minister clear that her father and family was done to death at the behest of Pakistan. The radical Islamist forces also made an assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina in 2000 as Prime Minister and in 2004 as the Awami League President.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to make a trip to India in the first week of September and along with PM Modi will launch the jointly developed 1320 Mega Watt Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal in Khulna sub-division.

PNS Taimur, the second of the four Type 054 A/P frigates build in China, was commissioned on June 23, 2022. The lead ship of this class is PMNS Tughril and was commissioned on January 24, 2022. China is also building eight Yuan class -041 diesel attack submarines for Pakistan by 2028 with the objective to militarily flank India on high seas.

(Hindustan Times)

en members of crisis-hit Sri Lanka’s Commonwealth Games contingent in Birmingham have disappeared in a suspected attempt to remain in Britain, a top sports official from the island nation told AFP on Sunday.

The nine athletes and a manager vanished after completing their events, the official said, requesting anonymity.

Three of them – judoka Chamila Dilani, her manager Asela de Silva, and wrestler Shanith Chathuranga – had disappeared last week.

That prompted a police complaint by the Sri Lankan officials.

“Since then, another seven have vanished,” the official said, without identifying them.

“We suspect they want to remain in the UK, possibly to get employment.”

The 160-strong Sri Lankan contingent’s management possessed the passports of all members to ensure they returned home.

That failed to deter some from leaving.

British police located the first three that disappeared, but as they had not violated local laws and held visas valid for six months, no action was taken, the Sri Lankan official told AFP.

“In fact, the police got us to return the passports that we were holding as a deterrent against defections,” the official said.

“The police have not told us about their whereabouts.”

Sri Lankan athletes have been reported missing from international events in the past.

In October last year, Sri Lanka’s wrestling manager abandoned his team and disappeared in Oslo during a world championship tournament.

During the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea, two Sri Lankan athletes made a run for it and were not found.

And in 2004, when Sri Lanka did not even have a national handball team, a 23-member group pretending to represent the country conned their way to a tournament in Germany and disappeared. (Courtesy AFP)

President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Ambassador to China Qi Zhenhong met on Saturday (06), sources have confirmed.

The closed-door meeting was held at the request of the Chinese Ambassador.

The meeting took place against a backdrop where the arrival of the Chinese vessel ‘Yuan Wang 5’ at Hambantota Port in located in the Sea of Sri Lanka, has sparked controversy in the region.

Initially, Sri Lankan authorities said that there was no information that such a ship would arrive.

However, a few days later, Cabinet Spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena confirmed that the ship will remain at the Hambantota port from August 11th to 17th for refueling and replenishment.

Sri Lankan authorities also pointed out that it is routine for ships of friendly nations such as India, Australia, Japan and China to visit Sri Lankan ports.

However, amid strong protest from India, the Foreign Ministry has requested for the ship’s arrival to be deferred, according to a release issued by the Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry has requested the Chinese Embassy to defer the arrival of the vessel, “until further consultations” are made between the two Governments.

Moreover, reports indicate that the Chinese Embassy will consult Beijing before responding to Sri Lankan authorities on the deferral.

Source: News 1st

Amid fears of a growing cold war between India and China within the country, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe wants to avoid any trade integration with India or any other South Asian nation after some bitter lessons in the past.

When he was in power in the past two decades, he attempted to have greater trade and comprehensive economic partnership with India, However, his attempts met with strong opposition by politically motivated trade unions and center-left political-party led oppositions amid false propaganda.

Since the end of a nearly three-decade war in 2009, Sri Lankan leaders have struggled to balance between India and China.

Beijing’s willingness to invest in Sri Lanka’s infrastructure has been frowned upon by India amid an intensifying cold war with India in Sri Lankan territory as China’s influence in Sri Lanka is seen as a security threat to the Indian Ocean.

Colombo-based political analysts say India is increasingly agitated over rising Chinese presence in the South Asian island nation just a few miles from the World’s second largest democracy.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think you will see trade integration with South Asian region,” Wickremesinghe told an economic forum on Friday.

“There will have to be bilateral agreement with whoever we want. There is too much of politics involved for there to be a regional trade agreement in South Asia,” he said without naming India which has encouraged Colombo for broader economic corporation deals including Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and Economic And Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) in the past.

His efforts to go for such greater economic partnership have brought him political defeat at elections in the past.

“So we can keep that aside. We can have integration in dancing, we can have integration in cooking. but certainly we are not going to have integration as far as the economy is concerned.”

Instead, President Wickremesinghe wants other countries including nations from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as well as the West and Africa.

“We have to look at ASEAN and RCEP. That’s a growing market. It’s a big market and the income levels are much higher. So let’s look at it,” he told an audience including the country’s top corporate leaders.

“Later on you can look at Africa – East Africa specially. We must keep our economic relationship with Europe and UK that is looking for a role as a Global Britain. So I think Sri Lanka can easily get closer and better relationship with UK. Then we get on to the US itself.”

Wickremesinghe’s latest comments come as India has raised security concerns over an arrival of a Chinese military ship to Sri Lanka’s Chinese-controlled Hambantota port.

Since coming to power through a parliament vote, Wickremesinghe is in the process of formulating a new foreign policy to avoid geopolitical issues from both India and China, his close allies have told EconomyNext.

Source: Economy Next

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is concerned about the impact of the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka on food supplies for the country’s poorest.

Nearly 6.3 million people, or three in 10 households, are at risk of food insecurity and need assistance, the WFP said in a statement of thanks for an aid contribution from Norway of the equivalent of about $500,000.

Recent WFP surveys show that 61 per cent of families are either eating less, or eating less nutritious food, or even skipping meals altogether, due to the acute emergency, reports dpa news agency.

An emergency programme is being set up to help 3.4 million people in Sri Lanka who are most at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition, it added.

The island nation, with a population of about 22 million, is in the midst of its worst economic crisis since it gained independence in 1948.

Most recently, the country, which is $51 billion in foreign debt, lacked the money to import essential goods such as fuel, medicines and gas for cooking.

Food prices have risen sharply and inflation is already over 60 per cent, according to official figures.

“We are deeply concerned about the impact of the current economic and political crisis on the people of Sri Lanka,” Norwegian Ambassador Trine Joranli Eskedal was quoted as saying.

Food shortages and rising prices have had a particularly negative impact on women and children in the island nation.

Source: Adaderana