Sri Lanka Seeks India's Help Amid Protests Over Economic Crisis

India has so far provided Sri Lanka with $2.5 billion worth of economic assistance to help the island nation alleviate the ongoing economic crisis. New Delhi has also supplied Colombo with diesel and petrol to overcome the fuel shortage, in addition to supplying essentials such as food and medicines.

Colombo has asked the Indian government to supply it with small arms, bullet proof jackets and other riot gear for the Sri Lankan Police Service, diplomatic sources have told Sputnik.

An official at the Indian Embassy in Colombo said that the request has been forwarded to the Ministry of Defence in Delhi, which will take a call on the matter.

The request for security gear for internal policing comes as thousands of protestors have hit the streets of major Sri Lankan cities in the wake of the ravaging economic crisis, the worst in the nation’s post-colonial history.

The dwindling forex reserves and falling tourism revenues during COVID pandemic have led to shortages of essentials such as food, fuel and medicines owing to the government’s inability to pay for them.

The protestors have called for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa over their handling of the nation’s economy, a demand they have rejected.

The entire Sri Lankan cabinet with the exception of the President and PM stepped down this month after the economic meltdown led to popular protests. As a conciliatory gesture to the protestors, the President has offered to reduce his constitutional powers.

The demonstrators have reportedly camped at the presidential secretariat in Colombo for more than 20 days. Sri Lanka’s trade unions led more protest marches on Friday, which were taken out amid a huge police presence.

The Indian official says that New Delhi expects the protests to continue as long as the economic situation in the nation is resolved. “We expect the Sri Lankan economy to stabilise in a year,” reckoned the official.

Another diplomatic source pointed out that New Delhi “must help” fulfil Sri Lanka’s internal security needs as part of the government’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.

“Even though the cause of the current economic crisis has got nothing to do with us, any form of instability, be it political or security, in any of India's neighbours could have implications for our own security interests,” sources noted.

Sri Lanka’s crackdown on anti-government protestors in the wake of President Rajapaksa's declaration of emergency on 1 April has already provoked concerns from the United Nations (UN).

“We condemn the excessive use of teargas and water cannons to disperse protesters, as well as the recent block of social media platforms. We urge the Sri Lankan Government to allow students, human rights defenders and others to protest in a peaceful manner, and to freely share their political views and express their discontent, both online and offline,” a group of UN experts said this month.

The Emergency was lifted on 5 April, according to a presidential gazette.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called upon the Sri Lankan government to increase the taxes for the “well-off”, while protecting the “vulnerable” sections of the society amid fuel and food shortages.

A Sri Lankan delegation led by new finance minister Ali Sabry held “technical consultations” with the IMF between 18 and 22 April, as per a release.

The IMF has also said that it has asked Sri Lanka to open talks with its other creditors, as it described Colombo’s current debt levels as “unsustainable”. The World Bank this week announced a separate $600 million assistance package for Colombo to alleviate the crisis.

Before 12 April, Sri Lanka was obliged to pay a $1 billion repayment on sovereign bonds in July and debt repayments to the tune of $7 billion were due at the end of the year.

In comparison, data from Sri Lanka's Central Bank pegged the current foreign exchange reserves at $2.3 billion, as reported by Reuters.

Between 10 and 20 percent of Sri Lanka's overall debt and sovereign bond payments are owed to China, its biggest lender. Beijing has said that it is reviewing Sri Lanka’s request for restructuring the debt.