Hijacked Grid, Compromised Nation: How India’s Energy Web and Sri Lanka’s Ministers Undermined Our Sovereignty

The betrayal is no longer a suspicion. It is now documented, calculated, and publicly exposed thanks to a leaked letter from the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), dated April 3rd, 2025. The letter reveals that while Sri Lankan solar developers were offering clean energy at Rs. 27 per unit, the government approved a diesel-based deal at Rs. 72.11 per unit  a staggering difference that can only be explained by one thing: design.

This is not a miscalculation. This is engineered dependency, where domestic options are destroyed to justify foreign intervention and the foreign hand in this case is becoming unmistakably clear: India.

For decades, India has advanced its transnational energy strategy under the banner of One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) a vision to control regional electricity flow through a centralized grid spanning South Asia, with India as the hub. Sri Lanka has been eyed not as a partner, but as a plug-in extension. Proposals for interconnection with the Indian grid date back to the early 2000s, but the real push has gained momentum in the last five years. It is no coincidence that as India’s ambitions surged, Sri Lanka’s domestic renewable bids were buried, stalled, or rejected clearing the path for geopolitical capture disguised as cooperation.

The leaked PUCSL letter confirmed that the Cabinet was presented with manipulated figures gas prices, diesel prices, and exchange rates from 2021, all used in 2025 to push through a decision that locks Sri Lanka into long-term fossil fuel dependency, bleeding out our foreign reserves in exchange for imported energy and imported influence.

But let us be brutally honest: this hijacking could not have happened without local collaborators. Since 2000, Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy Ministry has rotated through a dozen names each one complicit, whether through action or silence, in building a system that has increasingly disempowered the nation’s energy autonomy:

• Anuruddha Ratwatte (2000–2001)
• Karunasena Kodituwakku (2001–2004)
• Susil Premajayantha (2004–2005)
• John Seneviratne (2005–2007)
• Mahindananda Aluthgamage (2007–2010)
• Champika Ranawaka (2010–2015)
• Ranjith Siyambalapitiya (2015–2018)
• Ravi Karunanayake (2018–2019)
• Mahinda Amaraweera (2019–2020)
• Dullas Alahapperuma (2020–2022)
• Kanchana Wijesekera (2022–2024)
• Anura Kumara Dissanayake (2024–Present)

Under each of these tenures, the public has been sold the language of “progress,” “development,” and “regional cooperation.” Yet the result is the same: our national grid has become vulnerable, our pricing manipulated, and our long-term energy planning handed over to external actors with strategic interests  not humanitarian ones.

So we now ask: How far has the damage gone? And more importantly, can it still be reversed?

The damage is deep  but not irreversible.

What Must Be Done — Now

1. Halt All Foreign-Controlled Grid Integration Talks

Sri Lanka must immediately suspend any discussions related to grid interconnection with India or any foreign government until a comprehensive national audit of energy security and sovereignty is conducted.

2. Declassify All Power Purchase Agreements

Every deal including the Rs. 72 diesel contract must be made public. If clean solar proposals were rejected, the responsible officials must be named and held accountable.

3. Reopen Rejected Renewable Proposals

Every solar and wind bid rejected in the last five years must be re-evaluated on public record, not in boardrooms closed to scrutiny.

4. National Renewable Energy Commission

Create an independent, non-political commission to oversee Sri Lanka’s energy transition — one that reports to Parliament, not private corporations.

5. Public Inquiry on Ministerial Accountability

Establish a formal inquiry into the role of former Power and Energy Ministers in suppressing domestic renewables and advancing suspicious foreign agreements.

6. Introduce the Energy Sovereignty Act

A new law must be passed to prohibit any foreign government or private entity from owning critical infrastructure in Sri Lanka’s energy transmission or generation network.

Final Word: We Are Not Powerless

We are being told there is no choice that Sri Lanka must be plugged into regional grids and fossil fuel dependencies because we are too small to stand alone.

That is a lie.

We have sunlight. We have engineers. We have land. What we lack is political will and national backbone.

This is not just an energy issue. This is about our freedom to decide our future, unit by unit, watt by watt. The Nationalist will not allow this betrayal to pass in silence. Nor should you.

The people of Sri Lanka were not consulted. But we are wide awake now.

Written By Guest Writer 

Six Years Later, Sri Lanka Is Still “Searching”

It has been six years since Sri Lanka endured one of the deadliest terror attacks in its modern history. On April 21, 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombers targeted churches and hotels in Colombo, Negombo, and Batticaloa, killing over 260 people and injuring hundreds more. The scale of the violence was unprecedented. The shock was national. The grief, immeasurable.

And yet, six years on, no formal charges have been filed in Sri Lanka against those believed to be responsible.

What makes this even more disturbing is that significant evidence already exists. A criminal complaint filed by the United States Department of Justice in 2020 names three Sri Lankan nationals Mohamed Naufar, Mohamed Riskan, and Ahamed Milhan as key operatives involved in planning, training, and facilitating the Easter Sunday bombings. The 72 page affidavit by an FBI special agent outlines how this ISIS-affiliated group formed in Sri Lanka, conducted weapons and explosives training, and swore allegiance to the Islamic State’s leadership.

Despite this detailed account based on physical evidence, witness testimonies, forensic findings, and direct admissions Sri Lankan authorities have yet to prosecute any of the key suspects named. They remain in custody, uncharged, untouched by the local judicial system.

This inexplicable delay has given rise to serious concerns.

What explains Sri Lanka’s silence? Why has there been no transparent legal process? The issue is not a lack of information. It is not the absence of suspects. It is a failure of will and possibly, a suppression of accountability.

Instead of decisive legal action, there have been commissions, inquiries, and classified reports. Various government officials have made conflicting statements. At times, fingers have been pointed at internal political factions. At other times, vague references are made to “foreign influences” or “extremist networks.” But what has consistently been avoided is the initiation of a transparent criminal trial against the individuals identified in both local and international investigations.

The United States, operating on behalf of its own citizens killed in the attacks, saw enough evidence to file formal charges. That a foreign government has done more to pursue justice than the country where the attacks occurred is not only embarrassing it is a damning reflection of state inertia.

At this point, Sri Lanka’s delay risks undermining public confidence in the rule of law. It has transformed a national tragedy into an unresolved controversy. It has led to growing skepticism about whether vested interests are obstructing justice, whether sensitive alliances are being protected, or whether the full truth would expose politically inconvenient realities.

The Easter Sunday attacks were not simply a moment of violence. They were a defining moment in Sri Lanka’s post-war history a test of how the country would respond to organized terror. Six years later, that test remains failed. The victims’ families are still waiting. The public is still questioning. And the international community is still watching.

Justice delayed is justice denied. But justice deliberately avoided is something far worse.

Written by Guest Writer

Jihan Hameed Slams Deals as Modi Concludes Sri Lanka Visit

 
A Nationalist’s Perspective

Sri Lanka has just witnessed what can only be described as an alarming giveaway of our national sovereignty. As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wraps up his 2025 state visit to Colombo, the Sri Lankan government is celebrating seven new agreements with India – but true nationalists see only seven new threats. These deals, signed with much fanfare, hand over critical sectors of our country to Indian influence under the guise of “cooperation.” From defense and energy to digital identity and pharmaceuticals, no past administration has ever surrendered so much, so quickly. For Sri Lankans who cherish independence, Modi’s visit does not signify friendship – it marks a betrayal of Sri Lanka’s hard-won sovereignty.

Seven Deals, One Surrendered Nation

Let’s be clear about what was signed away. The government inked seven Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with India during this visit:

• Power Grid Connection: Connecting our electricity grid with India’s, inviting dependency on a foreign power for energy security.
• Digital Government & Identity: Allowing India’s digital systems to be implanted into Sri Lanka’s governance – a clear breach of sovereignty and privacy.
• Trincomalee Energy Hub: Handing strategic energy assets and land over to foreign powers under the guise of development.
• Defense Cooperation Agreement: A serious threat to military neutrality, placing our forces under foreign influence.
• Eastern Province Development: Politically sensitive aid with strategic strings attached, threatening internal unity.
• Healthcare and Medicine: Setting the stage for pharmaceutical dependency.
• Drug Standards MoU: Risking regulatory capture by India’s pharmaceutical industry.
  
  

Each of these MoUs represents a national compromise. Taken together, they signal an unprecedented surrender of Sri Lanka’s independence to Indian interests.

National Security in Jeopardy

Among the gravest threats is the Defense Cooperation Pact. It is a bitter irony that a president who emerged from the JVP – a movement that once took up arms against Indian intervention in 1987 – has now formalized military cooperation with the very power they resisted.

India now gains influence over training, intelligence, and perhaps even strategic planning. True nationalists must ask: whose security are we defending – Sri Lanka’s or India’s?

Have we forgotten the bloodshed of 1987, when tens of thousands of nationalist youth gave their lives resisting Indian dominance under the Indo-Lanka Accord? Today’s pact is no different in spirit – only more subtle in form.

Energy Dependency: Lights Out for Sovereignty

The power grid interconnection is presented as a path to prosperity, but it’s a leash around Sri Lanka’s neck. One disagreement with India, and they could cut the supply. That is not cooperation – that is energy blackmail in waiting.

Even more disturbing is the Trincomalee agreement – a strategic betrayal. Trinco is not just a port; it is our geopolitical heart. And now, it is being handed to India and the UAE, behind closed doors, without public consent. The last time this happened, it sparked rebellion. It will again.

Digital Identity: A Foreign Fingerprint on Every Citizen

By bringing Indian technology into Sri Lanka’s Unique Digital Identity system, the government has placed every Sri Lankan citizen’s data at risk. This is a backdoor into the lives of 22 million people – a cyber colonization masquerading as innovation.

Would any nationalist tolerate a foreign power building and controlling the framework of national identity? The answer is no.

Healthcare and Drug Control: Dependency in White Coats

Healthcare is being framed as “cooperation,” but it’s nothing short of regulatory surrender. India now has a role in deciding which medicines we buy, from whom, and on what terms. If their companies dominate our drug market, what happens when we lose price control or supply diversity?

No nationalist would allow a nation’s health to be outsourced.

Eastern Province: The Trojan Horse

Why the Eastern Province? Because it has long been a strategic obsession for India. By earmarking aid for it alone, India is embedding itself where it can later exert political influence.

This is not generosity – it’s strategic groundwork. As nationalists, we must reject any deal that divides the island into foreign-managed regions.

History Repeats: 1987 All Over Again

We’ve been here before. In 1987, Indian pressure brought the Indo-Lanka Accord. It brought war, occupation, and death. More than 60,000 nationalists died to resist it. And now, we’re being led into the same trap – without protest, without a gun to our leaders’ heads.

At least then, our leaders were cornered. Today’s betrayal is voluntary – and therefore, even more dangerous.

This Must Not Stand

As a Sri Lankan nationalist, I sound this alarm for one reason: because I will not be silent as my country is carved up, sold off, and surrendered in piecemeal agreements dressed up as diplomacy.

This is not a rejection of India or any nation – it is a rejection of dependency. We must be self-reliant, sovereign, and strong. Our security must be our own. Our data must be our own. Our ports, our energy, our medicine – all must be ours, not theirs.

We must oppose these agreements. We must demand Parliament debate them. We must make our voices heard in every media, every platform, every street.

In 1956, a nationalist wave restored the voice of the people. In 2025, we must rise again.

Sri Lanka is Not for Sale

We can cooperate without capitulating. We can trade without being trapped. But this government has chosen surrender over strength. It is up to us – the nationalists, the defenders of this land – to draw the line.

This is the line. We must not cross it.

Jihan Hameed is a Sri Lankan nationalist, expressing the concerns of many who put country above all else.