Kiriella says Govt. position on IPL “slimy”

• Charges ruling party has allowed ties with India to gravely deteriorate
• Says with every broken promise, Govt. is pushing Lanka deeper into int’l trap

By Dharisha Bastians

 The Government had adopted a ‘slimy’ policy on the Indian Premier League issue, allowing the media to vilify the Sri Lankan cricketers for their decision to play when the cricket controversy was a clear cut signal of the regime’s failed diplomatic relations, the main opposition United National Party charged yesterday.

Addressing a media briefing yesterday, UNP Senior Vice President Lakshman Kiriella called on the media to cease its attacks on the cricketers, saying it was the Government’s broken promises to the international community and the failure of its diplomatic relations with India and the Southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu.

“The Government has not told the players not to go and play in the IPL. On this issue too they have no coherent policy. Their stance on the issue is slimy - go if you want, stay if you like. Not only has it driven Sri Lanka’s relations with the Indian states to this point but they articulate a position because Sri Lanka Cricket is compelled to borrow from the Board of Control for Cricket in India when it is bankrupt,” Kiriella charged.

He said it was an indication of how much the Government had allowed ties with India to deteriorate that cricketers who played in Chennai during the war, were no longer assured of their safety four years after the conflict concluded.

He said the recent remarks by BJP strongman and former Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Singh proved that Sri Lanka had seriously botched its relationship with its giant neighbour. Singh called for a separate Tamil state if Sri Lanka fails to deliver on devolution and elections in the country’s north and east.

“The BJP MPs statement makes it clear that Sri Lanka has now lost the support of the main opposition party in India. Neighbouring countries cannot be fooled all the time. The Government is ensuring the country loses all the friends we need in the world.

We have lost Europe, we have lost the US and now we are well on the way to losing India, the most critical relationship of all,” he explained. Kiriella said that each time the Government breaks its promises to the international community; it pushes Sri Lanka further into a trap. He said that unlike the Government, the international community had a coherent and clear agenda on Sri Lanka.

“The world will give us time and space to meet our obligations and to follow through on the commitments we have made. When we fail to do so, the world will continue to pursue its own agenda,” he warned.

According to Kiriella, consistent failure on the devolution and reconciliation fronts on the part of the Government was ultimately going to force the international community to call for a referendum in the north and east, to ask minorities there whether they want to remain part of Sri Lanka. He said the ruling Government’s actions were providing the fertilizer to force the move on the country.

“The Government has successfully pursued the divide and rule policy with the opposition, trade unions, the legal fraternity and now even the cricketers who are being labelled patriots and traitors depending on whether they play the IPL.

If the regime pursues this path, they will end up dividing the country as well, through an international mechanism,” he warned.