MP questions delay in Iranian ship's request to enter Galle port

The ship stayed anchored for eleven hours,

having requested permission from our government to come to Galle harbor.

But the government did not give any reply about this for eleven hours. Go with more

possibilities. GWM. Go with more. Honorable Speaker, just as this was said,

there was also a military exercise in India. Forty- eight countries took part in it.

Our Sri Lankan Navy ship Nandimithra also took part in this military exercise.

And forty- two ships have taken part. Twenty- nine Asian nations took

part in this military exercise. Then, after this military exercise ended,

this ship came to depart again for Iran, with notification given to India as well.

But we know that in the Gulf region, along with the warships there,

American warships are also in the Gulf region, so this ship cannot go to Iran.

Because it could not go, they diverted the ship and brought it toward Galle harbor,

at a distance of about forty nautical miles. The ship stayed there for eleven hours.

They asked the Sri Lankan government

for permission for that ship to come to Galle Port.

Because it was not hit while it was sailing,

the ship had been stopped in the middle of the sea. Because they cannot go to Iran.

Because it cannot go to Iran, they have to finish it in the sea around Iran…

Honorable Speaker… please conclude.

It cannot go there because there is a war going on in that region,

so this ship cannot go.

So they asked our government for permission to come here to the Galle harbor.

The ship stayed anchored for eleven hours.

But the government did not give an answer to this for eleven hours.

Only after those eleven hours had passed somehow did this, this information…

… reach the American military.

After that information reached them,

only then did they say that their submarine was not in this area.

The submarine was in the Gulf region. From that Gulf region it came here to

attack this. Honorable Member, please conclude.

So I would like to ask the minister why, for these eleven hours,

was this ship allowed to remain anchored here? Under international law,

together with India and with Mrs. Indira Gandhi,

we signed a whole series of agreements declaring the Indian Ocean a zone of peace.

The Opposition Leader said this here,

and our MP Dayasiri also said it. When we have signed such international

declarations,

why was that port— Galle Port— not allowed to be used? The BAIC BJ30. Hybrid SUV.

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