Gibbs
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What a friend we have in Pakistan | The Sunday Times Sri Lanka
President Maithripala Sirisena embarks on his fourth official overseas voyage since assuming office in January, and that he has identified Pakistan to visit after India, Britain and China is a deserved recognition of a country that stood by Sri Lanka in its darkest hour in recent times.
The scheduled trip to Islamabad was earlier put off due to logistical reasons, but it is a healthy decision not to have overlooked a country that, through the entire duration of Sri Lanka’s northern insurgency, irrespective of who was in office in either of the two countries, was steadfast in its support for the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of this country.
There were times when the Pakistan Army was even asked to release armaments from its own stocks due to exigencies that had arisen in the armed conflict in this country. Mid-level officers were trained in Pakistan’s Defence Academies from the nascent stages of the separatist insurgency till its extinction.
Pakistan would have had its strategic interests in offering that help, which country doesn’t, but one could affirm without fear of contradiction that the saying ‘a friend in need – is a friend indeed’ goes for it.
After the end of the northern insurgency, two issues have arisen — one is the influx of refugees fleeing Pakistan alleging religious persecution thereby using Sri Lanka as a stepping stone to secure asylum in other countries. The other is the nexus between the two countries in the heroin trade.
While the refugee issue is a manageable one, drug trafficking between the two countries is growing to massive proportions. It reached the then Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s Office. The previous Government chose to ignore the fact – for reasons best known to it, that Colombo was becoming the South Asian hub for drug trafficking.
Now, with the arrest in Pakistan of the Sri Lankan godfather of this multi-million dollar cartel, and his deportation to Colombo, the country awaits with bated breath, the outcome of the investigations thereto and the naming of the culprits involved.
Pakistan has had its ups and downs ever since her tumultuous creation as a sovereign state in 1947. The Kashmir issue has plagued its relations with India and its very existence. Democracy has fought running battles with military juntas; its Media and Judiciary have stood at the barricades of dictatorial rule on behalf of their citizenry.
The country is battling religious extremism, terrorism, and aerial bombardments by a third party fighting a proxy war on its soil. Yet though bedevilled with internal strife, through it all, Pakistan has stood by Sri Lanka. As the Bard said; Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried. Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.
President Maithripala Sirisena embarks on his fourth official overseas voyage since assuming office in January, and that he has identified Pakistan to visit after India, Britain and China is a deserved recognition of a country that stood by Sri Lanka in its darkest hour in recent times.
The scheduled trip to Islamabad was earlier put off due to logistical reasons, but it is a healthy decision not to have overlooked a country that, through the entire duration of Sri Lanka’s northern insurgency, irrespective of who was in office in either of the two countries, was steadfast in its support for the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of this country.
There were times when the Pakistan Army was even asked to release armaments from its own stocks due to exigencies that had arisen in the armed conflict in this country. Mid-level officers were trained in Pakistan’s Defence Academies from the nascent stages of the separatist insurgency till its extinction.
Pakistan would have had its strategic interests in offering that help, which country doesn’t, but one could affirm without fear of contradiction that the saying ‘a friend in need – is a friend indeed’ goes for it.
After the end of the northern insurgency, two issues have arisen — one is the influx of refugees fleeing Pakistan alleging religious persecution thereby using Sri Lanka as a stepping stone to secure asylum in other countries. The other is the nexus between the two countries in the heroin trade.
While the refugee issue is a manageable one, drug trafficking between the two countries is growing to massive proportions. It reached the then Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s Office. The previous Government chose to ignore the fact – for reasons best known to it, that Colombo was becoming the South Asian hub for drug trafficking.
Now, with the arrest in Pakistan of the Sri Lankan godfather of this multi-million dollar cartel, and his deportation to Colombo, the country awaits with bated breath, the outcome of the investigations thereto and the naming of the culprits involved.
Pakistan has had its ups and downs ever since her tumultuous creation as a sovereign state in 1947. The Kashmir issue has plagued its relations with India and its very existence. Democracy has fought running battles with military juntas; its Media and Judiciary have stood at the barricades of dictatorial rule on behalf of their citizenry.
The country is battling religious extremism, terrorism, and aerial bombardments by a third party fighting a proxy war on its soil. Yet though bedevilled with internal strife, through it all, Pakistan has stood by Sri Lanka. As the Bard said; Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried. Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.
