Rauff Hakeem, a senior Sri Lankan parliamentarian and leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), has slammed the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) government over the “disgraceful” response to Israel’s recent military actions targeting Hamas leadership and the strikes on Qatar.
Hakeem, a lawyer and former Cabinet minister, condemned a statement issued last week by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, which he said failed to hold Israel accountable for its continued military aggression and breaches of international law.
“The Foreign Ministry has once again shown not just incompetence, but an appalling lack of moral clarity,” Hakeem said in a written statement issued after his return from Tehran, where he had been attending the World Islamic Solidarity Conference on Palestine.
Hakeem accused the NPP government of abandoning its stated commitment to ethical governance.
“It has exposed the depths of a culture of tomfoolery, recklessness, and vicarious criminality,” he wrote, lambasting what he saw as Sri Lanka’s refusal to condemn what much of the world has termed “genocidal” conduct by Israeli forces, particularly in Gaza.
Hakeem also highlighted the government’s failure to name Israel explicitly as the aggressor, particularly in relation to reported strikes on Qatar — a key economic partner for Sri Lanka.
“We need Qatar for labour migration, investment, trade, and tourism,” Hakeem noted, adding that Sri Lanka’s apparent silence in the face of aggression against its Gulf partners risks serious diplomatic fallout.
Hakeem further accused the Foreign Ministry of being infiltrated by pro-Israeli sympathisers, saying the official statement read “as if it had been drafted by an Israeli hand.”
He warned that such positioning could jeopardize Sri Lanka’s relationships with key members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, particularly ahead of crucial international forums such as the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Leave a comment