Sri Lanka’s ‘political trauma’ driven by both internal and external factors: Jaishankar

Indian Minister of External Affairs, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, says the political trauma Sri Lanka experienced two years ago resulted from internal and external factors.

Addressing a discussion organized by the US think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Indian External Affairs Minister said conflicts in a specific region could severely impact other areas, especially the global south.

“The international economy today is fragile. I have traveled to various parts of the world, which have had a tough time for the last five years, where people have seen a visible drop in the quality of life. I may mention Sri Lanka. I’ve been in that country; I’ve been going there occasionally. I think part of what explains political shifts was the trauma they underwent due to some factors within their control, but some of it was not”, he said.

Furthermore, Dr. Jaishankar added: “Now, what the lessons of tensions of conflicts … what we saw in Ukraine, what we see in the Middle East … that in a globalized world, conflicts and tensions anyway are going to cause problems everywhere. It’s not regional. It is going to come at everybody in some form or other.”

“The global south is extremely concerned about new factors of stress, tensions, anxiety, and more pressures on the system because they are at the bottom of the change. We feel the pain. Today, people want reassurance and stability. Nobody wants more anxiety”, he signed off.