Lanka Reefcomber, …. with highlights subect to the Editor’s iinterventions ….
Watching PALKI SHARMA’s You Tube Presentation was of absorbing interest. I remember this journalist from her time at WION, primarily for her long-standing promotion of the ‘China debt trap’ narrative in Sri Lanka—claims that have since been debunked. This history suggests a clear bias against China. Furthermore, while she is described here as ‘calm,’ calmness is not a virtue in itself; even figures like Donald Trump can appear calm, but look at what that calm demeanour has produced. It is the underlying intention and content of character that truly matter.
Turning to her analysis, while she raises valid concerns about India’s domestic issues (such as employment), her positioning of India as a global power is problematic. Her assertion that India can engage ‘seamlessly’ with everyone—Israel and Iran, or Russia, the US, and China—is not as straightforward as she projects. She presents India as a bridge between diverse groups like the SCO, Quad, and BRICS, but in reality, a friend to all is often a friend to none—leaving India isolated without a truly reliable ally when interests clash. India is viewed as trying to keep a foot in too many camps for purely transactional gains. By trying to balance the Quad and BRICS simultaneously, or by halting Iranian oil imports at Trump’s demand only to later seek discounted Russian oil during the Ukraine conflict, India often appears to be trying to ‘have its cake and eat it too.’
Her claim that China wants Asia entirely for itself is misleading; it feels as though she is dismissing China simply to advance an Indian agenda in the region. Likewise, labelling Pakistan a ‘terrorist state’ is a deliberate attempt to delegitimise it. India is not ‘pure’ in this regard, especially given recent allegations of extrajudicial killings in Canada and the US. While Pakistan’s counter-labelling of India as a ‘rogue state’ is equally reductive, one must consider India’s own history in the region. During the Sri Lankan Civil War, for instance, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was accused of committing serious atrocities, including rapes, enforced disappearances, and the massacre at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
Today, Pakistan continues to accuse India of supporting the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) to destabilise them—a claim that gained renewed intensity during the major BLA ‘Operation Herof’ (Black Storm) offensive earlier this year. Whether these accusations are true is beyond the scope of this comment, but they illustrate that such binary labels are often meaningless tools used by both states to delegitimise one another. The idea that India can aggressively pursue its national interest while remaining a purely ‘responsible player’ is difficult to reconcile, especially after the missile exchanges of May 2025.
With regard to BRICS, while India uses the platform for South-South cooperation, its internal trade dynamics are heavily skewed. India’s trade deficit with Beijing hit an all-time high of $112.6 billion in 2026, driven by a surge in imports of electronics and machinery. The West remains India’s primary source of trade surpluses, providing a necessary buffer against its deficits with the East. Furthermore, the ongoing war in Iran has exposed the fragility of India’s multi-alignment strategy as it navigates regional blockades and shifting US demands. It is interesting that Iran trusts Pakistan to be a mediator with the US, and not India.
She is correct to say the United Nations is a 1945 outfit, not a 2025 one. She is also correct that India, as a global power, should play a greater role in reformed international organisations. India should be a permanent member of the UN Security Council—a move China and Russia have indicated they might support. Many of her statements on this subject are indeed noteworthy.
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A NOTE: Palki Sharma’s Presentation was sent to me by ASOKA KURUPPU who is now in Queensland