Gulbin Sultana

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Dr Gulbin Sultana is an Associate Fellow with the  South Asia Centre in the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and  Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi. Her area of research in the institute includes  Sri Lanka and the Maldives. She has written extensively on the  politico-economic and foreign policy developments of these two countries.  Additionally, Dr Sultana takes interest in the study of small island states  particularly in the Indian Ocean Region and also issues pertaining to maritime security.  She has done her MPhil on “India’s Naval Support to Sri Lanka and the  Maldives” from the South Asian Studies Division of School of International  Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was awarded a PhD degree too  by the same university. Her doctoral thesis was on “Sri Lanka Maritime  Security: A Study of Military and Non-military Responses.Before joining MP-IDSA, she worked with the  National Maritime Foundation and the United Service Institution of India in New  Delhi.


Associate Fellow

Publication

Sri Lanka after Rajapaksa: Can it Ignore China?

Since the fall of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, there has been an apparent foreign policy shift in Sri Lanka. There is a growing view that the new National Unity Government (NUG), which came to power in January 2015 with Maithripala Sirisena as President, has shown its proclivities towards India and the US and moved away from China, especially under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Sri Lankan perceptions of the Modi government

There is no one nationalist Sri Lankan view. Among the Sinhalas, there are also the liberals who are quite realistic about their assessments and would argue that there may be a change in leadership in India, but the cornerstone of India’s policy vis-à-vis Sri Lanka will remain the same. The Tamils, on the other hand, are unanimous in their view that India can and should play a major role in bringing meaningful political reconciliation to the country.

Post-CHOGM Dilemmas of Rajapaksa

There is a view in Lanka that CHOGM did more harm than good and many, in fact, are questioning the wisdom of the government to host the meet. However, the pro-government media is defiant with editorials strongly denouncing the threat of international investigation as interference of Sri Lanka’s internal affairs and it is expected to galvanize popular support for Rajapaksa.