“Suriname minister on Katchatheevu controversy: closed chapter”
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry responded to the controversy surrounding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s position on the Katchatheevu island issue, stating that it was a “closed chapter.”
Sabry said that there was no need to rehash the matter since it was addressed fifty years ago.
Though there was minimal backlash from Sri Lankan official circles in the first two days after PM Modi’s post on X, the country’s media harshly criticized it.
Ironically, the government’s only response was made by a minister of Tamil ancestry named Jeevan Thondaman, who claimed that Lanka had authority over the island. He said that there has been no formal correspondence in this respect from the Indian government.
He went on, “Both governments have a healthy and organic” foreign policy. It is ironic because Thondaman hails from a distinguished political lineage that has stood out for Tamils residing in central Sri Lanka’s highlands ever since the country’s independence.
