Ranil says in Kerala “Lanka is not pro-India or pro-China”
Monday, 20 April 2015 00:56
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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said Sri Lanka is neither pro-India nor pro-China.
Wickremesinghe was answering reporters during his visit to the Sreekrishna Temple in Guruvayar, India on Saturday, the Hindu newspaper reported.
On his controversial statement in an interview to a Tamil TV channel that Indian fishermen might be shot if they intruded into Sri Lankan waters, he said: “The Sri Lankan Government primarily represents the interests of Sri Lankans.”
Calling for better bilateral ties, Wickremesinghe said: “We must move ahead”, pointing to visits by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka.
He said: “I had promised to worship in the temple if the results in the Sri Lankan elections were favourable.”
His wife Maitree Wickremesinghe and Sri Lankan Minister for Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs D. M. Swaminathan accompanied him. He offered ‘thulabharam’ with sandalwood.
