President Mahinda Rajapaksa has just returned from the South Asian regional grouping (SAARC) summit in Bhutan urging member-states to be wary of foreign influences and external solutions to local problems.
Despite its otherwise lacklustre performance, SAARC has, however, maintained at least a semblance of regional unity where there was none before.
But while the President's remarks targeted the Western nations given his experience with them in recent years, especially their non-support during the 'war years', his other plea, for member-states to "introspect" and "look inward" is also relevant in the context of the 'post-war era', at least where Sri Lanka is concerned.
A news item that went largely unnoticed was the move to open an Indian Government consulate in Jaffna after the opening of a visa centre scheduled for Wednesday (May 5). According to former diplomats who served in the Sri Lankan Foreign Office, neighbouring India has long been nudging Colombo for permission to open a consulate in northern Jaffna; having set up one in Kandy following the signing of the Sirima-Shastri (repatriation of Indian citizens) Pact. Colombo fended off these requests for more than 30 years fearing the long-term goals of India. The fact that Indian authorities were well and truly orchestrating an insurgency in their southern neighbourhood was the prime reason for Colombo's negative response.
That India has wanted to influence and direct the politics of the north and east of Sri Lanka - and to some extent, the plantations in the highlands too -- is a fact; a fact that the Indian Government will naturally want to officially deny. Unfortunately for New Delhi, the entrée of the militant groups, later transformed into terrorist groups wanting a separate state in the north and east of Sri Lanka, compelled it to rewrite the script. They would, one would imagine, want to start from scratch once again.
There being no Indian nationals as such in north Sri Lanka, there is no compelling reason for an Indian consulate in Jaffna, though there has been, for decades, much business transaction and movement of people from the northern peninsula to the southern Indian states. The opening of a visa office, however, is different, because it will make life much easier for the people of Jaffna to apply for visas without having to come to Colombo for the task.
In a sense, the area does have some Indian nationals. Many who were to be repatriated under the Sirima-Shastri Pact somehow managed to escape en-route or slip away to find refuge in the east, the Wanni area and the north. Take the case of a person from Kanagarayankulam near Kilinochchi whose child served the LTTE and died in battle with the Sri Lanka Army. The LTTE leader had made him a Maha Weera (hero of the liberation struggle) and the family was entitled to land and a house given by the LTTE - mind you, State land that the LTTE had acquired.
The Maha Weera family was encouraged to bring relatives from Tamil Nadu to live there. Later, the family had bribed the Grama Niladhari (Village Headman) to state in an affidavit that they had been long-time residents of Kilinochchi. And the Government of Sri Lanka has endorsed the LTTE 'title' to the property.
In years gone by, Sri Lanka was a haven for south Indians to secretly enter and make their livelihood here. A special Army unit called TAFAII (Task Force Against Illicit Immigrantion) was detailed in the northern shores to stop them from entering illegally. Tables turned with the advent of the northern insurgency as Sri Lankans from the north began fleeing to the safety of south India as refugees. Now with peace in the north, there is every likelihood of a reversal of the flow of people.
It is only to be expected that an officer or two of RAW, Indian's external spy agency, would be placed in that consulate, if and when opened. Under diplomatic cover, India will be able to get a first-hand briefing of the political events unfolding in the north of Sri Lanka. More so, India will have a firm toe-hold in the geographical area closest to its borders even as China gets a toe-hold in southern Sri Lanka with its 'economic development' strategy.
As China develops the south, the Sri Lankan Government seems content to give India almost carte blanche contracts to develop the north. On the face of it, it might seem a clever option, but what implications are there for the long-term.
While China indeed has very long-term objectives, and the 'necklace of nations' around India that it has successfully cultivated including Sri Lanka seems to worry India, there's probably nothing overt that India can do about it -- other than destabilise Sri Lanka as it did in the 1970s up to the 1990s. That scenario seems unlikely right now, but Indian strategists always look at long-term objectives, unlike their Sri Lankan counterparts. So too do other world powers. Every modern state, Singapore for instance, has its strategic objectives; economic, political, even on issues like environment and health.
It is for this reason that the astute Sri Lankan Foreign Minister of yesteryear Lakshman Kadirgamar began a Strategic Studies Institute after poring over papers and visiting similar think-tanks around the world. His vision was for Sri Lankan academics, military personnel, defence and world affairs commentators, former diplomats, perceptive businessmen and the like to strategize on the long-term goals and dangers for Sri Lanka; something the political leadership could ponder over and take informed decisions.
This Institute was meant to be the 'eyes and ears' of Sri Lanka in a now rapidly changing world where regional groupings and the national interest of individual nations are distinct; the latter inevitably having priority over the former. Alas, this Institute, later named the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for Strategic Studies and Foreign Relations became nothing but an empty shell, a playground for the Foreign Ministry's political stooges and to hell with Sri Lanka's long-term geo-political objectives. One can only hope that with a new dispensation, and together with the Ministry of Defence, this Institute will be revived to be what it was intended to be in the context of 'post-war' developments in the modern world. |
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