President Anura Dissanayake says the recent security pact with India is not a newly introduced agreement, but rather a formalization of existing cooperation that has been ongoing for years.
Speaking at a National Alliance rally in Galle, the President clarified that the arrangement, agreed upon during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit, does not include any new commitments. Instead, it gives structure to joint activities already in progress between the two nations.
“There is nothing new in this so-called security pact,” he said. “We’ve already been conducting joint operations. Our officers have been undergoing training in India. We’ve engaged in collaborative research. What we’ve done now is to officially formalize what’s already been happening.”
President Dissanayake underscored the importance of regional security and the necessity of partnering with nations that possess more advanced security technology and expertise.
“We must ensure the safety of our region,” he stated. “And to do that, we need support from those who are ahead of us in security technology and capability. Otherwise, how can we say we’re a country that’s moving forward?”
He went on to blame Sri Lanka’s historical lack of technological progress on decades of poor governance.
“If the leaders of the past seventy-six years had made the right choices—if they had prioritized technological advancement—we wouldn’t need to depend so heavily on others. But since they didn’t, this is the path we must take now.”
