Round The World
New Delhi, 18 May 2017
India-Lanka Ties
NATIONAL, NOT STATE
SUBJECT
By Dr S Saraswathi
(Former Director,
ICSSR, New Delhi)
After a long gap of 28 years, the visit of Indian Prime
Minister to Sri Lanka
is an event bound to attract regional reaction as well as global attention. The
visit is part of India’s
mission to establish and promote mutually beneficial international relations –
an item on top of the agenda of the NDA government. It has immense significance
for both countries and for keeping peace and balance in this region.
The visit was arranged in connection with the United Nations
Vesak Day -- the Day to commemorate Lord Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and
passing away. The apparently non-political purpose has acquired political significance
in view of several sticky problems between the two countries affecting not only
India’s
national interests, but also a part of its internal Union-State relations.
It may be recalled that former Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa once stated: “All countries are friends of Sri
Lanka, but India
is Sri Lanka’s
relative”. It is literally true as overwhelming majority of Sri Lankan
population are ultimately of Indian origin. Over 15 per cent are Tamils. The
Prime Minister made a tactical reference during this trip to the fact that
Tamil Nadu’s unforgettable Chief Minister MGR, was born in Sri Lanka.
Any discussion on Indo-Sri Lankan relation these days is
grabbed by Tamil Nadu politicians to focus it exclusively on the status of
Tamils and their future. There are two groups of Tamils in Sri Lanka. One
is Sri Lankan Tamils comprising descendants of Tamils of the old Jaffna Kingdom
and the other is Indian Tamils who are descendants of plantation labourers sent
to Sri Lanka
in 19th and 20th centuries during British rule.
Considerable number in the latter group were repatriated to India after
independence and those who remained there acquired Sri Lankan citizenship and
came to be known as Sri Lankan Tamils.
They constitute, as per 2012 census, 11.21 per cent of the
total population of this island concentrated as overwhelming majority in the
Northern Provinces, and as the largest ethnic group in Eastern Provinces.
The first Indian Prime Minister to address a gathering of
tea plantation workers, Modi labeled them Indian-origin diaspora who were
providing the bridge between India
and Sri Lanka.
Friendship and cooperation between them cannot begin or end
with or depend on the demographic phenomenon. Ethnic, cultural, linguistic and
religious factors may naturally be predominant in shaping the attitudes of
people in the southernmost parts of the country vis-à-vis Sri Lanka. But,
for the nation as a whole, whether it is sharing Brahmaputra with China, or Indus with Pakistan,
or Indian Ocean with Sri Lanka,
State-level problems, however, important, cannot be the sole deciding factors
in international relation while the views of affected states are taken into
consideration. Hence, the Union government has a very difficult job of
protecting the legitimate interests specially affecting Tamil Nadu and
Tamilians and adopting at the same time a realistic foreign policy in the
region. Unfortunately, regional leaders in any State of India are unwilling to
cultivate a national outlook in foreign relations.
Sri Lanka holds an important position in India’s
geo-strategic interests. Its location,
pictured as a vanguard of peninsular India
overseeing the Indian Ocean astride the sea
lanes, is one of the crucial points of Indian strategic planning. Sea Lines of
Communications (SLOC) in the Indian Ocean are extremely important for South Asia as lifeline for supplies and trade.
China is engaged in enlarging its sphere
of influence in South Asia. But, Sri Lanka cannot be expected to allay the
anxieties of India
and forget its own nervousness due to the Tamil factor.
Ethnic affinities between Tamils in India and Tamils in Sri Lanka are not any rare case of
cross-border ethnicity in the world. There are several such cases all over the
world binding people separated by national borders. European countries under
refugee influx, and the historic melting pot of multi-racial, multi-religious,
polyglot population of the United
States are bound to face very many problems
of plural societies. People living in border regions in India --
Punjabis, Bengalese, Assamese, Kashmiris, etc., -- have some special relations
with people across international borders.
China always had an eye on Sri Lanka for its location in the centre of the Indian Ocean. Its interests are not confined to development
and trade. Along with India,
China has got the rights to
explore for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mannar in north-west Sri Lanka. This
has practically given justification for semi-permanent presence of China in Sri Lanka. Chinese engineers have
built the port and oil bunkering/storage facility in Hambantota in the
south-east coast of Sri
Lanka.
China is in recent years taking special
efforts to promote friendly ties with countries around India as part
of its diplomacy. It extended support to Sri Lanka in the United Nations
over the years on the question of violation of human rights of Tamils – the
basic grievance of political parties in Tamil Nadu. Sri
Lanka helped China
to get Observer status in SAARC, and China reciprocated it with
supporting Sri Lankan demand for a similar status in the ASEAN. India’s Sri
Lankan relationship inevitably has to react to Chinese Sri Lankan policy.
China’s latest initiative to inaugurate
the Belt and Road Forum to construct a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and
open it for all countries has immense significance both for geo-politics and
geo-economics. The Forum was attended by around 30 countries. All neighbours of
India including Sri Lanka, and USA participated in the Forum. The
proposed corridor runs through the Pak Occupied Kashmir. China used the occasion to pose as the champion
of globalisation, free trade, investments and peace ironically invoking the
historic Panch Sheel – the five principles of peaceful co-existence declared by
India and China over 50 years
ago.
Sri Lanka provides an ideal naval base for
any kind of operation in the Indian Ocean.
This alone is sufficient for India
to go smoothly with Sri
Lanka even on long-pending issues like
Katchatheevu and seek solutions compatible with reality and safeguarding mutual
interests.
Fishermen issue is separate and is not really a part of India’s
international relations. It is a complicated economic issue involving laws of
the sea and fishing rights. It is to be tackled as a livelihood problem and addressed
as a humanitarian question and should not be allowed to raise tempers and spoil
international relations which have many other dimensions with vital national
interests. Union-State relations within India
or emotional ethnic attachments may be useful electoral issues, but cannot and
should not dictate India’s
Sri Lankan policy.
Sri Lanka’s unity, sovereignty, and integrity
as well as its stability and domestic peace are as important for India as for Sri Lanka. India has
cultural and linguistic ties dating back to several centuries with almost all
South and South Asian countries. Such ties have to take their place along with
economic and strategic interests.
Nevertheless, the Centre seems to be showing some genuine
concern for safeguarding the rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka and rights of Indians
over the Ocean resources. Political leaders of Tamil Nadu have to accept that
international relations cannot be determined as an emotional issue. It is a
national and not State subject.—INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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