The current Government has proved to be a failure in maintaining foreign diplomatic relationships, which has now made the country a fallout amongst other nations, said Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Imthiaz Bakeer Markar. He made this statement while speaking in Parliament today (25). "Diplomatic relations are damaged. Sri Lanka used to have very close diplomatic relationships with many countries, but today we have become the target of ridicule. Our leaders of the past have never knelt down before another nation, whereas today our sovereignty is lost. We are always at the mercy of other nations," he said. He went on to add that even the Foreign Minister has proved incapable of maintaining diplomatic relations with other nations. "When the Israel-Palestine war was going on a few months ago, Sri Lanka was the only nation to be silent. When inquired from the Foreign Minister as to why no statement was made either from himself or the President, the response was that if Sri Lanka sides with one nation, the other nation might be upset," Imthiaz stated. This, Imthiaz said, was not a proper answer and as a Foreign Minister, diplomacy should be his strong point. "As a Foreign Minister, he should know how to be diplomatic and speak for the right thing, without worry of what another party or nation has to say," said Imthiaz. He concluded that, because of this alone, Sri Lanka has lost many friendly diplomatic relations between many countries and is now at the mercy of nations Sri Lanka has asked assistance from.