2017-07-21
Opposed B-C Pact ‘57- ‘Green Revolution’- ’77 - Indo-SL Pact ‘87
“It is a lack of courage on my part, a lack of intelligence on my part, a lack of foresight on my part” -J R Jayewardene, Executive President of Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka
Sunday Observer of August 16, 1987, reported a distraught Sri Lankan Head of State, who was seated by the side of Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi at the media briefing that followed the signing of Indo-Lanka pact in 1987, making a confession when answering a journalist who queried, ‘why he had not moved earlier on reaching an agreement with Tamil leadership’.
‘Lessons from the month of July’, Monday’s DM editorial prompted me to reflect on how JR Jayewardene responded to ‘July’. Unfortunately, as the editorial highlights, we have not learnt ‘…dangers of fostering and enhancing differences.’
Sunday Observer of August 16, 1987, reported a distraught Sri Lankan Head of State, who was seated by the side of Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi at the media briefing that followed the signing of Indo-Lanka pact in 1987, making a confession when answering a journalist who queried, ‘why he had not moved earlier on reaching an agreement with Tamil leadership’.
‘Lessons from the month of July’, Monday’s DM editorial prompted me to reflect on how JR Jayewardene responded to ‘July’. Unfortunately, as the editorial highlights, we have not learnt ‘…dangers of fostering and enhancing differences.’