Situation Unprecedented In Lanka, Drawing Comparisons With India Uninformed: Jaishankar At All-Party Meet

The meeting was organised after several political parties from Tamil Nadu including DMK and the AIADMK demanded that India should intervene in the crisis shrouding the neighbouring country.

All-party meeting on present situation in Sri Lanka. (Image: PTI)

The Central government on Tuesday chaired an all-party meeting over the ongoing economical crisis in Sri Lanka. During the meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made the initial remarks and explained the current situation. "The matter pertains to very close neighbour. We naturally worry about consequences and spillover," Jaishankar said during the meeting. 

"The situation is unprecedented and India is worried about it. But drawing comparisons is uninformed," Jaishankar said dismissing claims about such a situation arising in India. "The reason we took the initiative to request you all to join an all-party meeting was...this is a very serious crisis and what we are seeing in Sri Lanka is in many ways an unprecedented situation," Jaishankar said.

"It is a matter which pertains to a very close neighbour and given the near proximity, we naturally worry about the consequences, the spillover it has for us," he added.

Jaishankar also said there have seen some "misinformed comparisons" in the context of Sri Lanka wherein some people have asked whether "can such a situation happen in India".

Senior leaders such as P Chidambaram and Manickam Tagore of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Sharad Pawar and T R Baalu and M M Abdulla of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) attended the meeting.

Currently, Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades, with a severe foreign exchange shortage hampering the import of essentials, including food, fuel and medicines. The crisis has also led to a massive political crisis in the island nation. Acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency in the country.

The meeting was organised after several political parties from Tamil Nadu including DMK and the AIADMK demanded that India should intervene in the crisis shrouding the neighbouring country.

The Ministry Of External Affairs (MEA) recently stated that it will continue to stand by the people of Sri Lanka and that it was in favour of a peaceful resolution of the ongoing crisis through democratic means and constitutional framework.

India has been helping Sri Lanka with fuel and food supplies. Last week, the MEA said India had committed $3.8 billion for Sri Lanka.

M Thambidurai (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), Saugata Ray (Trinamool Congress), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Sanjay Singh (Aam Aadmi Party), Keshava Rao (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), Ritesh Pandey (Bahujan Samaj Party), Vijayasai Reddy (YSR Congress) and Vaiko (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) also attended the meeting. 

The meeting comes a day after a senior Indian government official posted in Sri Lanka sustained grievous injuries in an unprovoked assault. Reacting to the incident, the Indian High Commission in Colombo has urged its nationals to remain aware of the latest developments in the island nation and plan their movements and activities accordingly.

Vivek Varma, an Indian national and Director of Indian Visa Centre sustained grievous injuries in an unprovoked assault last night near Colombo. The matter has been brought to the attention of the Sri Lankan authorities.