Cooperation vital for Sri Lanka: Leaders on return from India

PTI

Colombo, February 10

Sri Lanka's Marxist JVP party members who made their first visit to India at the invitation of the Indian government on Saturday said international cooperation was vital for the island nation and it cannot remain isolated in the world.

A delegation of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a Marxist–Leninist communist party, which led an anti-India campaign in 1987-90 against the Indo-Lanka Accord, on Saturday returned from a five-day official visit to India.

On their return, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake gave a brief outline of the delegation's visit, including meetings with the External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval among others.

He said the visit was important in the context of the presidential election in Sri Lanka to be held later this year.

“People anticipate a turnaround in local politics at the presidential election. This visit was important as Sri Lanka can't remain isolated in the world," Dissanayake said. International cooperation is vital for Sri Lanka, Dissanayake said.

Asked about their anti-Indian rhetoric against Indian investment in the island nation, Dissanayake said, “Honouring an official invitation and having meetings doesn't mean we should change our political and economic policies”.

Dissanayake said there was good awareness in India about Sri Lanka's economic and political crisis prevailing. The visit was useful for the JVP to gain studies of varying fields such as technology and investment, Dissanayake said.

The JVP met the Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Rajnikant Patel and the Kerala government run by the left-wing alliance of CPI-M Kerala. JVP, which entered mainstream politics in 1994 after leading two bloody rebellions in 1971 and 1987-90, is the third largest political group in the south.

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