Grinding talk of waiting diplomacy

On October 27, on the ‘Dawasa’ programme on Sirasa TV, Mr Palitha Kohona, former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations (Ambassador designate to China), was taking part, and the other participant was a university lecturer.

The first question from Sirasa to Kohana was why the SL government had still not announced the agenda for the meeting to be held with the US State Secretary Mike Pompeo. Kohona’s reply was that it would not be so important to make such an announcement, as what is usually done is to release a statement after the talks. The Anchorman then said that India announced their agenda beforehand. To that Kohona gave a long “Malle Pol” reply.

Definitely he would not have had any idea about the agenda for the meeting, as it appeared to be a secret between our leader/s and Pompeo; and Kohona was not straightforward enough to admit it, and say that our government too should have announced the agenda for the meeting in advance, without hiding it from the countrymen.

A RATNAYAKE