Sri Lankan foreign minister seeking Bangladeshi support on Commonwealth

[Hammer-fist]

C’wealth: Peiris on mission to win over Dhaka

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By Ameen Izzadeen

External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris will fly to Dhaka on Wednesday in what is seen as a crucial mission to avert a Commonwealth stricture on Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh is the current chair of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which is meeting in April to discuss among other matters Sri Lanka’s alleged failure to abide by the Latimer House Principles on judicial independence.
South Asian diplomatic sources said Bangladesh had already come under tremendous pressure from some Commonwealth nations that sought an early CMAG meeting to take action against Sri Lanka and wanted the venue of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit shifted from Hambantota to London or Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius.

They said Minister Peiris’ visit aimed at persuading Bangladeshi leaders not to go along with Canada and some other members of the CMAG would put Dhaka in a major diplomatic dilemma.

Bangladesh was inclined to back Sri Lanka, but Sri Lanka must show up with at least some perfunctory progress towards Commonwealth values so that Bangladesh could resist pressure and justify its decision not to take action against Sri Lanka, the sources said.

Dr. Peiris met Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma on Tuesday in London to protest against moves to include Sri Lanka in the CMAG. Mr. Sharma arrives today in Sri Lanka for talks with Sri Lankan leaders.

In the wake of the questionable trial and the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake last month, Canada slammed Sri Lanka for not adhering to the Commonwealth values. It also said Colombo had not taken measures to address human rights violations and accountability issues related to the separatist war.

C’wealth: Peiris on mission to win over Dhaka | The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka


Senior Bangladeshi members what do you think our government should do?

@eastwatch @iajdani @saleen_s7 @Skallagrim @asad71


To be honest my natural inclination is to support Sri Lanka as they are a fellow South Asian/brown nation like us.

However I have Tamil friends myself.

 

[Maira La]

We are still a member of the Club of Colonized Nations? Such a disgrace!

 

[Mattrixx]

We should look for the rights of mainstream srilankan. But for that loosing a support of a bunch of countries will be sane. So should be neutral here. And we can still make good relation with Srilanka

 

[Hammer-fist]

I spoke to a nationalist once with military and limited intelligence connections.

He is quite right-wing.

He dismissed Tamil human rights issues and said we (Bangladesh) are pro-Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is our ally.

I want a good relationship with Sri Lanka, but as a person (not as a Bangladeshi nationalist) I am sympathetic to the plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka (I've had Tamil friends) and hope that the Sinhalese accept that though they may be the dominant race on "their" island, they cannot enforce Sinhalese supremacism and discriminate against Tamils.

 

[asad71]

1. SL has always been our close ally. Sri Lankan's often refer to their origin to be from Bengal and Prince Vijaya. In the past BD and SL did not require pre-arrival visa. During this BAL regime this is no more. We also suffered an embarrassment in the Ramu incident which was organized by Burmese Intel utilizing local BAL low level leaders.

2. What is happening in SL is part of India's on-going program to pressurize / de-estabilze this nation. BD foreign affairs under BAL govt are very much controlled from New Delhi. How BD tackles this situation will depend on the guidance received from New Delhi. SL's closeness to China and Pakistan are viewed with much concern by India. Therefore, India's advise to BD in this matter would have to be in line with India's position.

3. However, if BD were to take an independent decision it would go along with the SL govt's position. Any dissenting views would have to be conveyed covertly as one ally to another ally.

 

[eastwatch]

To be honest my natural inclination is to support Sri Lanka as they are a fellow South Asian/brown nation like us.

However I have Tamil friends myself.

Bangladesh should not support SL when it breaks rule only because the latter is an asian country. But, I could not really understand the core issue by reading the news. Also, I wonder why the Commonwealth does not also impose some restrictions on the Executive Branch of the BD Govt that always controsl the country's Judiciary Branch? If SL is guilty of a crime of not adhering to a Commonwealth value, then BD itself is more guilty for the similar, if not same, crime.

 

[eastwatch]

We are still a member of the Club of Colonized Nations? Such a disgrace!

The best way, perhaps, to get rid of association with others, with the past colonials and the present non-colonials is to fly fast out of this planet and save our holy people and country from these bad countries.

 

[HeinzG]

Sri Lanka should resign from Commonwealth. That's it.

 

[sepoi]

bd whould act neutral here .

 

[notsuperstitious]

Interesting to see if BD will support war crimes and dictatorship in another country while fighting the same at home.

 

[Mattrixx]

Interesting to see if BD will support war crimes and dictatorship in another country while fighting the same at home.

Srilanka were opposite power of our independence.
And Tamil region there they supported us.
But today we r keeping relation with other countries ahead of that.
We r not a world power so why to act aggressive.
SL has a great future and we should look for the mainstream ppl there.
SL and BD has great tie so why to ruin that.

 

[Hammer-fist]

Interesting to see if BD will support war crimes and dictatorship in another country while fighting the same at home.

Bangladesh in general acknowledges it is not a major power and is a country struggling to combat poverty and other things, thus it cannot alienate any governments. The emphasis here is on *governments*. The Sri Lankan government is run by the Sinhalese and the Bangladeshi government does not want to go picking fights (as it sees it) or alienate people. If the government was run by Tamils it would be the same story.

Bangladesh cannot afford to be a champion of human rights, whereas powers such as the US, EU can. For instance we could not go to the US and tell it off on human rights and tell it to close Guantanamo.

So I think they will try to avoid all conflict and offend nobody as much as they can, what option that is I'm not sure.

However on a personal level, I have sympathy for the Tamil people, though see Sri Lanka in general as an ally country.

If Sri Lanka play India or Pakistan, I will be supporting Sri Lanka against both of the others.

 

[liontk]

We are still a member of the Club of Colonized Nations? Such a disgrace!

living in queen's country and talking trash about commonwealth, meanwhile long lines in pakistan and inde where PHDs are trying to come to our country, classic canadian immigration policy.

The best way, perhaps, to get rid of association with others, with the past colonials and the present non-colonials is to fly fast out of this planet and save our holy people and country from these bad countries.

The point is not about sharing the past infact if Bd does not like the colonial past and values may be they should stop adhering to common law and bring another system forexample quebec follows the napoleonic code, i am sure bangladesh has an indeginous code they would want to adhere to.

Edit: Also let me make it clear, the reason our government did it is because of extensive protests in the past year from tamil minority which make up a substantial amount of 1% in canada and they have the money to back them up so government has to listen to their interest and based on the data, there were some violation that were conducted and sri lankan government is not entirely innocent. However BD as a future south asian power with an enormous population with a similar past should empathize with Canada's view point in this case though the final decision is still in BD governments hand. Hopefully they do not play petty politics and remain objective.

 

[liontk]

Bangladesh in general acknowledges it is not a major power and is a country struggling to combat poverty and other things, thus it cannot alienate any governments. The emphasis here is on *governments*. The Sri Lankan government is run by the Sinhalese and the Bangladeshi government does not want to go picking fights (as it sees it) or alienate people. If the government was run by Tamils it would be the same story.

Bangladesh cannot afford to be a champion of human rights, whereas powers such as the US, EU can. For instance we could not go to the US and tell it off on human rights and tell it to close Guantanamo.

So I think they will try to avoid all conflict and offend nobody as much as they can, what option that is I'm not sure.

However on a personal level, I have sympathy for the Tamil people, though see Sri Lanka in general as an ally country.

If Sri Lanka play India or Pakistan, I will be supporting Sri Lanka against both of the others.

while you may not be a current global power, you cannot underestimate your position forexample while our population in canada is declining in terms of labor force, bangladesh on the otherhand has an enormour labor force, which is a great plus in robust size economies.

 

[Hammer-fist]

while you may not be a current global power, you cannot underestimate your position forexample while our population in canada is declining in terms of labor force, bangladesh on the otherhand has an enormour labor force, which is a great plus in robust size economies.

Please stick to the topic.

This is about Bangladeshi-Sri Lanka relations, and not just about the commonwealth or how wonderful Canada is.

Sri Lanka is the 4th nation of South Asia so we obviously want good ties with it. Canada can be discussed in another thread.

Thanks.