Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India, Mahishini Colonne, has told an audience of senior Indian officers that the two countries should deepen their relationship while Sri Lanka safeguards its sovereignty, territorial integrity and strategic autonomy.
Colonne was addressing the 66th Course of India’s National Defence College in New Delhi, speaking on “India–Sri Lanka Bilateral Relations: Determinants, Status, Opportunities, Challenges and the Way Forward”. She had also addressed the college’s 65th Course in August 2025.
The lecture was attended by 122 senior officers drawn from the Indian Armed Forces, the Civil Services, the Indian Police Service and other arms of the Indian government, along with 41 officers from other countries, including Sri Lanka.
The security assurance, and its counterweight
Addressing the strategic dimension of the relationship, Colonne stressed the interdependence of the two countries and reiterated Sri Lanka’s standing assurance that its territory would not be used in any manner that threatens India’s security interests.
She paired that assurance with an emphasis on protecting Sri Lanka’s own sovereignty, territorial integrity and strategic autonomy — the balance that has framed Colombo’s handling of Indian security concerns, particularly over foreign naval and research vessel access to Sri Lankan ports.
Speaking at India’s premier institution for training senior military and civil officers puts that formulation directly to the constituency most invested in it.
Recent momentum
Colonne pointed to a run of high-level exchanges as evidence of deepening engagement: President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s State Visit to India in December 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka in April 2025, and the first bilateral visit to Sri Lanka by an Indian Vice President in April 2026.
She highlighted India’s humanitarian assistance after Cyclone Ditwah in November 2025, delivered under Operation Sagar Bandhu. India and Sri Lanka subsequently agreed to expedite a US$450 million Ditwah reconstruction package.
Colonne also recalled Indian support during the 2022 economic crisis, including emergency assistance and India’s role as the first bilateral creditor to provide financing assurances for Sri Lanka’s IMF programme.
Drawing on the college’s motto, “Wisdom is Strength”, Colonne examined the relationship across history, geography, sovereignty, security, economics, connectivity and people-to-people links, noting deep civilisational ties while acknowledging more difficult periods in the modern relationship.
Bilateral work has continued at the technical level, with the two sides recently reviewing power sector cooperation in Delhi.
