Sri Lanka facing ‘very serious crisis’, India worried about 'unprecedented' situation: EAM S Jaishankar at all-party meet

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday (July 19) said Sri Lanka is facing "a very serious crisis" and India is worried about it, however, drawing comparisons between the situation of the two countries is “uninformed”. Jaishankar made the remarks at an all-party meeting in Delhi where he briefed the Parliamentarians on the situation in Sri Lanka. "The reason we took the initiative to request you all to join an all-party meeting was...This is a very serious crisis and what we are seeing in Sri Lanka is in many ways an unprecedented situation," PTI quoted the EAM as saying. 

"It is a matter which pertains to a very close neighbour and given the near proximity, we naturally worry about the consequences, the spillover it has for us," he added.

The situation is unprecedented and India is worried about it. But drawing comparisons is uninformed: EAM Dr S Jaishankar at all-party leaders’ meeting on the situation in Sri Lanka pic.twitter.com/B8q0qKzgzp

— ANI (@ANI) July 19, 2022

Further, he said there have been "misinformed comparisons" in Sri Lanka's context wherein some people asked if "can such a situation happen in India".

The briefing was attended by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Congress’ P Chidambaram and Manickam Tagore, Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Sharad Pawar, DMK’s T R Baalu and M M Abdulla. M Thambidurai (AIADMK), Saugata Ray (Trinamool Congress), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Sanjay Singh (Aam Aadmi Party), Keshava Rao (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), Ritesh Pandey (Bahujan Samaj Party), Vijayasai Reddy (YSR Congress) and Vaiko (MDMK) were also present during the meeting. 

Sri Lanka is witnessing the worst economic crisis in seven decades, leading to a severe shortage of essentials, including food, fuel and medicines. The recent protests in the island nation also triggered the collapse of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led government which was blamed for mismanaging the economy. Acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency in the country in the wake of the uprising. 

Meanwhile, for the first time in 44 years, Sri Lanka's Parliament will directly elect a President on Wednesday. The island nation is looking at a three-way contest among-- acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Dullas Alahapperuma, a rebel leader of the ruling party, and leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake-- to pick the successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to step down and flee the country following the popular uprising.

(With agency inputs)