Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa warned on Friday that several parties were attempting to turn Sri Lanka into a “geopolitical playground” by exploiting the country’s economic and political situation, and said no room should be given for such external interventions.
Premadasa made the remarks at the Ruhunu Vesak Maha Perahera, held alongside the Vesak festival at the Pannegamuwa Diyabendi Temple in Tissamaharama, Ada Derana reported. He stressed the need to safeguard the country while strengthening its people, and said Sri Lanka’s internal affairs should not be influenced according to the interests of various factions.
The Opposition Leader said the country must build a strong and unique economic, social, political and cultural foundation, calling for resilience across every sector. He pointed to the severe economic crisis as having narrowed the livelihoods of millions and caused many to lose their sources of income, and underscored the importance of protecting the nation’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence, identity and culture while committing to development and breaking free from dependency.
The intervention lands as Sri Lanka navigates parallel pressures from the Iran–US ceasefire framework announced this week, which has already shifted oil prices and Sri Lanka’s external financing outlook, and a Chinese envoy’s framing of the Indian Ocean as a “power battleground”. Premadasa has previously raised bankruptcy-risk concerns about the IMF programme path and called for a fresh IMF deal modelled on Bangladesh.
The SJB has used Vesak and other public platforms in past weeks to project a sovereignty-first economic narrative against the NPP government’s IMF programme commitments and bilateral negotiations.
Source: Ada Derana.
