In a last minute decision, just week ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Sri Lanka, Colombo has cancelled his Parliament address scheduled next week, sparking speculation in political and diplomatic circles. Senior government officials have cited “Covid-19 constraints” for the decision, even as the itinerary issued by the Department of Government Information - dated February 16, 2021 - listed “arrival at Parliament” on February 24, along with Khan’s scheduled participation in a ‘Trade and Investment Conference’, and the inauguration of a Sports Institute the same day. Amid a surge of infections in the country, Sri Lanka began a vaccination drive for parliamentarians.
Imran Khan is is expected to arrive in the country on February 23. When contacted, a Pakistan High Commission spokesperson said: “The PM’s address in [Sri Lankan] Parliament was not confirmed in the first place, it was being discussed.” However, Sri Lanka’s Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena had told a party leaders’ meeting earlier this month that Khan would be addressing the House.
Colombo’s revision of the visiting leader’s itinerary has raised many questions. It comes barely a week before Sri Lanka faces a likely contested resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, in which Pakistan is currently a member. The cancellation is also being viewed in the context of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s assurance to Parliament on February 10 that burial of Covid-19 victims would be allowed, amid a persisting campaign from Sri Lanka’s Muslim community, seeking burial rights. Khan had welcomed Rajapaksa’s statement in a tweet soon after.
Even after giving the assurance, the government is yet to reverse its highly contested policy of enforcing cremations for Covid -19 victims, being followed despite the WHO clearing both burial and cremation. Cabinet spokesman Udaya Gammanpila told a media conference that there was no change in the existing policy. He said Rajapaksa had only expressed his “personal view” in Parliament, adding that neither the Prime Minister nor the Cabinet had the power to reverse the policy, that an “experts’ committee” under the Ministry of Health is said to be reviewing.
“Our government embarrassed our own Prime Minister first and now they are embarrassing the Prime Minister of another country visiting us, this is pathetic,” said Rauf Hakeem, Opposition parliamentarian and Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. Meanwhile, New Delhi is following Khan’s visit with interest, diplomatic sources indicated, referring to the two countries’ conflicting position on Kashmir.
The last foreign leader to address Lankan Parliament was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the island nation in 2015. Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Moraji Desai were accorded the honour earlier, in 1962, 1973, and 1979 respectively. Pakistani leaders, including Presidents Mohamed Ayub Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, addressed the Sri Lankan Parliament in 1963 and 1975. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Thai PMs Thaksin Shinawatra and Yingluck Shinawatra also spoke at the House.
