Sri Lanka cancels Imran Khan's speech to its Parliament; visiting Pakistan PM embarrassed

Sri Lanka on Wednesday cancelled Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's address to its Parliament during his official visit to the island nation. According to sources, the decision has been taken because of concerns that Imran Khan could rake up the Kashmir issue. Imran Khan has a habit of parroting lies on the Kashmir issue whenever he is presented with a global platform, especially since the Indian Government's decision to scrap Article 370 in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.

ANI has quoted a Sri Lankan newspaper saying that the move may also have been an effort to ensure Imran Khan isn't granted parity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had addressed the country's Parliament in 2015.

Imran's address to SL Parliament cancelled

According to a report in Colombo Gazette, Sergeant-at-Arms of Parliament, Narendra Fernando said that the Foreign Ministry had informed Parliament that the Pakistan Prime Minister’s visit to Sri Lanka will go ahead as scheduled. Imran Khan will arrive in Sri Lanka on February 22 on a 2-day official state visit. 

Khan, who will be the first head of state to visit the country since the Covid-19 pandemic, is to hold talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena during the visit, the report said. 

Last week, Imran Khan welcomed Sri Lanka’s assurance on the burial of Muslim Coronavirus victims. Khan tweeted welcoming Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s assurance given in Parliament that Muslims will be allowed to bury those who died from the Coronavirus.

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Imran Khan's visit, scheduled a months after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s three-day visit to Colombo, will coincide with the early days of the 46th UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva. Jaishankar visited Colombo over three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa held a virtual summit during which the two sides agreed to further expand ties in a range of areas such as anti-terror cooperation, maritime security and trade and investment.

Last year, India had slammed Pakistan for politicising a humanitarian issue by raking up the Kashmir matter at a video conference between SAARC leaders held with an aim to chalk out a joint strategy to fight the Coronavirus pandemic. "Pakistan sent their Health Minister who was uncomfortable in speaking. He was given a slip. It's a churlish approach. This is a humanitarian issue and Pakistan tried to politicise the humanitarian issue," news agency PTI quoted the government sources as saying.

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