The Hon. Imran Maharoof
Hon. Imran Maharoof condemned the targeting of civilians in the Middle East conflict, specifically criticizing Israel’s offensive and United States support, while stating that Iran’s actions were directed at military targets rather than Arab countries. He argued that Sri Lanka should maintain its traditional non-aligned and pro-Palestinian position, abandon any perceived pro-US or pro-Israel stance, and act in support of justice and world peace. He warned that the continuation of the war could seriously affect countries such as Sri Lanka and questioned the Government’s official position and actions to help stop the conflict.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Presiding Member. In today’s Middle East war, the targeting of innocent civilians must be strongly condemned. Violations of international law, killing children and women, cannot be accepted. I strongly condemn this inhumane offensive by Israel with full support of the United States.
¶ 02 We must be clear: Iran has not targeted Arab countries; it has targeted military bases in the Middle East and Israel. This is not a war against other Muslim countries in the region—the world must understand this.
¶ 03 What is most troubling is that today the Sri Lankan Government appears to act on behalf of the US and Israel. As a nation, for a long time we have stood for the rights and justice of countries like Palestine, following a non-aligned policy and a principled stance. This Government should not abandon that. We must work for world peace, not aid those committing injustice. The Sri Lankan Government should immediately abandon a pro-US/Israel posture, stand for justice, and take appropriate action.
¶ 04 This war will create diverse problems for us in future. We should not view it as merely a dispute between two countries, or two communities, or two ethnicities. All countries are affected in some way. If this war continues, countries like Sri Lanka will be pushed into a very serious situation.
¶ 05 What is our country’s position on this war? What stance are we taking? Who is acting to stop the war?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Friday, 6 March 2026 ·No. 23376 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/5197
Cite as: The Hon. Imran Maharoof. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 6 March 2026. No. 23376. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/5197