India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao spent three days in Sri Lanka a week ago to seemingly take forward bilateral dialogue on a political settlement for the island’s Tamil community. Although during her interactions with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and members of his government as also with politicians representing the country’s minorities, subjects such as the status of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and next month’s Parliamentary elections were also touched upon. At the heart of her visit remained probably New Delhi’s desire for a political solution.
Officially Mrs Rao was here to inaugurate the Sri Lanka-India Centre of English Language Training in Peradeniya on March 7, but the highlight of her tour was the luncheon meeting with President Rajapaksa at his residence the same day. According to sources in Colombo’s diplomatic community, “cordial and candid discussions” on this country’s political situation were held at the meeting lasting two hours. Mrs Rao, according to the sources, is said to have conveyed to President Rajapaksa, the Indian government’s sensitivities on the Tamil issue.
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| Nirupama Menon Rao |
According to the sources, while New Delhi “did not want to be seen as representing the aspirations of any particular community,” it is keen that the Rajapaksa administration be “sensitive” to the Indian government’s domestic considerations. Public opinion in India, like elsewhere in the world, often reflects on foreign policy initiatives. So, while evidently Indo-Lanka relations have come a long way since the early 1980s when Mrs Rao was posted in Colombo as First Secretary in the Indian High Commission (she served as High Commissioner later), New Delhi still cannot ignore home concerns on the matter.
With Sri Lankan government’s war against the separatist Tamil Tigers having ended 10 months ago, New Delhi perhaps feels that the time for a solution has arrived. According to the sources, President Rajapaksa is understood to have told Mrs Rao that discussions with political parties would take place after the new Parliament is convened following the elections on April 8. The sources indicated that the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution and how it could be taken forward in a post-LTTE era might also have been discussed at the meeting. India is also opening its consulate in Jaffna.
Following Mrs Rao’s meeting with President Rajapaksa on March 7 Sri Lanka’s Presidential Secretariat released a statement to the media. With regard to discussions on IDPs, the statement said: “The Indian Foreign Secretary was of the view that Sri Lanka had made considerable success on the resettling of IDPs in the North and the East, with the number now standing at less than 70,000, and noted that this issue had now gone away from the attention of the international community. She expressed India’s willingness to continue assisting Sri Lanka in the resettlement of IDPs. Similarly, India was also keen to assist in the complete restoration of the railway line in the North, she said.”
The Indian High Commission in Colombo released a separate statement to the Indian media on Mrs Rao’s visit the following day. On the topic of IDPs that Mrs Rao spoke with President Rajapaksa, this statement said: “The President mentioned that 70,000 IDPs.
Remained in the camps, many on their own volition. The Foreign Secretary welcomed the relaxation of movement restrictions on IDPs, but also expressed the hope that the resettlement process could be expedited, especially in Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu, so that the IDPs could resume normal lives in their original places of habitation.” Both statements – on the same subject (IDPs) – released by either side about the same meeting however bore differences of words and attributions. Diplomacy often works in strange ways.
On March 7, India’s High Commissioner Ashok K Kantha hosted a dinner at his official residence, India House in Colombo where politicians from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) were present, among others. TNA leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan is said to have told Mrs Rao that the “lack of rehabilitation for IDPs was causing them sufferings.” Sources in the TNA said that Sampanthan, Suresh Premachandran and Mavai Senathirajah who were present at the dinner, also discussed with Mrs Rao, “other issues concerning the North, such as the presence of high security zones.”
Eastern province chief minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan aka Pillayan also met Mrs Rao at the Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo on March 8 and told her that the Tamils of Sri Lanka look forward to India’s help in finding a solution to the ethnic problem. March 8 was international Women’s Day and Pillayan did not forget to greet her. But greetings alone may not suffice as the Indian government diplomatic sources said, it is concerned that the island’s fragmented Tamil polity is yet to resolve its differences and discuss threadbare – the issues at stake.
As for Colombo’s decision on any political settlement, one would have to wait. President Rajapaksa has been invited by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit New Delhi. As of now Indo-Lanka talks on devolution is still trapped in status quo. |
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