Opposition MP Harsha de Silva has criticized decades of missed opportunities in Sri Lanka’s economic engagement with India, calling it a colossal waste of so many thousand young lives and decades of lost time.
Reflecting on JVP/NPP leader Tilvin Silva’s meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar in Delhi, MP de Silva urged political leaders to recognize the importance of closer integration with the world’s fastest-growing nation, India.
Taking to ‘X’, he questioned the government’s lack of progress on the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ECTA), noting, “Nothing happened for the last 1.5 years, in fact ‘ECTA’ does not even appear in any of the official statements during the visits of the President or PM.”
“I am aware that the opportunistic nationalists will attack me saying this line of thinking will cost the opposition the next election and fuel divisive politics. Of course I remember the attacks against me when we were establishing #1990 #SuwaSeriya… what if I backed down?” MP de Silva added, acknowledging potential backlash from nationalist groups. (Newswire)