Sri Lanka “will not approve of war in any form and firmly stands for world peace,” Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said on Monday, as the government responded to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Addressing a special media briefing at the Government Information Department, Jayatissa stated that Sri Lanka’s position is to call for an immediate end to the conflict and to promote global peace and stability.
“Sri Lanka will not approve war in any form and that Sri Lanka stands for world peace,” he said.
The Minister added that Sri Lanka’s request and intervention is to stop the war and ensure “world peace”, warning that the escalating conflict could have serious repercussions for regional stability and the global economy.
He further claimed that Colombo has taken steps to ensure the safety of nearly one million Sri Lankans residing in the Middle East.
The remarks come as tensions in the Middle East intensify, raising concerns over oil prices, remittances and economic stability in Sri Lanka, which remains vulnerable after its 2022 financial collapse.
However, the government’s declaration of opposition to war stands in sharp contrast to the historical record of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the core party within the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) alliance.
The JVP has repeatedly endorsed a military solution against the Tamil Eelam independence movement. During the armed conflict, it vocally backed pursuing an all out war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and opposed international calls for ceasefires, negotiations and devolving powers to Tamil regions. The party rejected federal proposals and political solutions, instead supporting the intensification of military operations.
The final stages of the war in 2009 resulted in the massacre of tens of thousands of Eelam Tamils at Mullivaikkal. To date, no credible accountability process has addressed the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during that period, atrocities that are increasingly being recognised as a genocide.
Tamil civil society groups have repeatedly pointed to the continued occupation of the Tamil homeland, the use of security legislation such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and the absence of demilitarisation as evidence that the Sri Lankan state has not fully renounced the logic of war.