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March 10 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has invited a representative of Myanmar’s junta to a meeting of Asian foreign ministers but denied on Wednesday that its gesture endorsed the country’s military coup, condemned globally over the army’s violent suppression of protests.
“ProtestSriLanka” began trending among coup opponents on Twitter in Myanmar after it emerged - through a letter leaked online - that Colombo had invited military foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) meeting in Colombo at the end of March.
Myanmar’s army seized power in a coup on Feb. 1, detaining civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and most of her cabinet. Nationwide mass protests have been met with deadly force, with at least 60 people killed according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group.
Myanmar security forces launch tear gas, surround hundreds of protesters
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Sri Lanka invites Myanmar junta s foreign minister to meeting, but denies endorsing coup
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Meera Srinivasan
Seeking India’s “proactive” support at the UN Human Rights Council, where a resolution on Sri Lanka will be soon put to vote, the Secretary to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “India cannot abandon us”.
“If the world is one family, as your Foreign Minister has said, then we are immediate family, isn’t it,” Admiral Jayanath Colombage (retired) said, citing External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s reference to ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ in his recent address to the Council.
The Foreign Secretary, a former Navy Commander, spoke to The Hindu on Sri Lanka’s prospects at the ongoing session in Geneva, Indo-Lanka relations, Colombo’s broader foreign policy choices, and strategy for reconciliation from “within”, and regional cooperation.