Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first post-war visit to New Delhi last week while maintaining status quo on the issue of political settlement of the island’s Tamil problem, focused instead on cooperating with India on economic and allied areas such as agriculture and energy. Amid protests by Tamil political groups such as the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) whose leader Vaiko was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police for carrying black flags and shouting anti-Rajapaksa slogans in Chennai, President Rajapaksa’s tour of India was also marked by controversy over his Minister Douglas Devananda’s presence in the Presidential team.
According to reports in the Indian media from New Delhi and Chennai, Devananda, the Sri Lankan Minister for Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development and leader of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) is still wanted for crimes he is alleged to have committed in Chennai between 1986 and 1990. Chennai city Police Commissioner T Rajendran was quoted by Indian newspapers as saying during President Rajapaksa’s visit that the Delhi Police had been informed of the pending charges against Devenanda. The minister himself however cited the Indo-Lanka accord of 1987 and said that all political activists had been pardoned under it.
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| Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa (C) inspects a guard of honour during his ceremonial reception at the presidential palace in New Delhi June 9. Reuters |
With the Madras High Court scheduled to hear on Monday a petition seeking Devenanda’s arrest, this matter will possibly become clearer in the coming days. But undeterred by such developments alongside his recent visit, President Rajapaksa met a group of Indian Parliamentarians from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in New Delhi. The DMK team that included Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi had visited Sri Lanka last year after the war ended. Following President Rajapaksa’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on June 9, a joint statement was issued by the governments of India and Sri Lanka.
“The Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) emphasized that a meaningful devolution package, building upon the 13th Amendment (to the Sri Lankan Constitution) would create the necessary conditions for a lasting political settlement. The President of Sri Lanka reiterated his determination to evolve a political settlement acceptable to all communities that would act as a catalyst to create the necessary conditions in which all the people of Sri Lanka could lead their lives in an atmosphere of peace, justice and dignity, consistent with democracy, pluralism, equal opportunity and respect for human rights,” the joint statement said.
President Rajapaksa told the Indian leadership that he would look at relevant provisions in the Sri Lankan Constitution to “strengthen national amity and reconciliation through empowerment.” According to the joint statement, “In this context, he (President Rajapaksa) shared his ideas (with Prime Minister Singh) on conducting a broader dialogue with all parties involved. The Prime Minister of India expressed India’s constructive support for efforts that build peace and reconciliation among all communities in Sri Lanka.” Earlier last week, President Rajapaksa had met members of the island’s mainstream Tamil coalition, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Colombo.
Forced to abandon its separatist Eelam ideology after the military decimation of the LTTE last year, the TNA has now chosen to engage with the Rajapaksa administration in a selective manner. During last week’s meeting with President Rajapaksa, the TNA led by veteran Trincomalee Parliamentarian Rajavarothiam Sampanthan told President Rajapaksa that it would work with him on resettling and rehabilitating the 300,000 war-displaced people. Most of them are from areas represented by TNA members in Parliament. President Rajapaksa is understood to have told the TNA that the majority mandate was with his party and that the Tamil political question would have to be resolved within the framework of that mandate.
TNA Jaffna Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran who had earlier called the 13th Amendment a “non-starter,” appeared cautious when asked about the recent discussions in New Delhi on the political process. “We need meaningful power-sharing,” he says adding, “Promises made to India by the Sri Lankan government should not be for the consumption of the international community. Something substantial should come from it.” TNA Parliamentarians have estimated that at least 150,000 houses would be needed for the 300,000 war-displaced people in the north and east. New Delhi has announced that it would help build at least 50,000 such houses.
Although from New Delhi’s standpoint, Colombo signing the controversial Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) would have been quite welcome, India would continue discussing CEPA with the Rajapaksa government. The two leaders, according to the joint statement, “agreed that it would be timely to build on this achievement (the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement) through a more comprehensive framework of economic cooperation, best suited to the two countries. In this context, they directed the concerned officials of the two countries to hold intensive consultations towards developing a framework for sustainable economic partnership between the two countries and addressing outstanding issues.”
China’s growing influence in Sri Lanka has been perceived to concern the Indian government which now seeks to open its consulates in Hambantota and Jaffna. India has offered $800 million through line of credit to rebuild rail infrastructure in northern Sri Lanka as well as the Matara-Colombo railway line apart from rehabilitating the Palaly airport, the Kankesanthurai harbour, the Duraiappah Stadium and building a cultural centre in Jaffna. Sources in Colombo’s diplomatic community say that India’s Line of Credit (LoC) for various infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka is estimated to touch $1.8 billion in the near future. As of now, China’s LoC to Sri Lanka at considerably high commercial rates, is estimated to be around $3.4 billion. Even as President Rajapaksa’s India visit ended last Friday, China’s Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang came to Colombo to sign a handful of Sino-Lanka agreements pertaining to areas of economic development and technology.
New Delhi also signed two agreements - Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters and Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners – during President Rajapaksa’s recent visit. While India had signed the two agreements with many other countries in the past, it had tried to negotiate the treaties with Sri Lanka for long. “Promoting dialogue on security and defence issues of relevance to their bilateral relationship, and enhance high-level military exchanges and training of military personnel as well as impart additional training in Indian institutions for the newly recruited police personnel,” the joint statement said.
The lengthy joint statement that appeared low on the usual diplomatic fluff and high on resolve at least on economic partnerships, also hinted at opening up the troubled waters to peaceful interactions between people of both countries. The resumption of ferry services between Colombo and Tuticorin and between Talaimannar and Rameswaram would be welcome. It is also hoped that fishermen no longer face bullets from either side. |
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