Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday arrived in Sri Lanka on a two-day visit to the country on the invitation of Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Earlier, India allowed a plane carrying Khan to fly through Indian airspace for Lanka. Incidentally, Islamabad in 2019 had denied permission to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aircraft to enter its airspace while travelling to the US and Saudi Arabia.
The Indian Government had then said Pakistan was deviating from well-established international practice. India had also taken up the denial of permission to VVIP flight with the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Meanwhile, keeping Indian sensibilities in mind, Lanka cancelled Khan’s scheduled address to its Parliament in Colombo. Khan is the first foreign head of state to arrive in Sri Lanka since the cornoa pandemic last year.
He is scheduled to hold extensive talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena during the visit.
As regards his speech in Parliament, Khan was reportedly scheduled to address the Parliament on Wednesday on the Pakistan Government’s request. Various reasons were attributed to the cancellation.
Media reports from Lanka said the Colombo Government cannot risk its relations with India when it is getting stuck in the Chinese debt-trap and India being the saviour for the world for distributing Covid-19 vaccines. India has recently gifted 5 lakh doses of Covishield vaccines to Sri Lanka.
