Sri Lanka has canceled Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s planned address to its Parliament during his upcoming visit to Colombo, according to media reports.
As per the sources, it is believed that as the Pakistan Prime Minister has a habit of poking into India’s internal matter of Kashmir especially since the Indian Government’s decision to scrap Article 370 in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, the Sri Lankan government doesn’t want to provide a stage to Pakistan which could bitter their ties with the Indian government.
Sergeant-at-Arms of Parliament, Narendra Fernando said he has informed Parliament that Imran’s visit to Sri Lanka will go ahead as scheduled, the Colombo Gazette website reported on Wednesday.
Apart from this, the Sri Lankan government was also concerned about Khan speaking about the rights of Muslims in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government had made compulsory cremation rule for those dying from Covid-19, enraging the Muslim community in the country. However, earlier this month, the government has exempted Muslims from cremation.
The Pakistan Prime Minister’s visit, scheduled a month after Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s three-day visit to Colombo, will coincide with the 46th UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, where a new resolution on Sri Lanka is likely to be adopted.
