The Hindu Business Line : Rising tensions in Sri Lanka

While India and the international community have an abiding interest in the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, they equally have a responsibility to encourage Sri Lanka to seek abiding political solutions to the ethnic conflict.

As millions of cricket fans in India and Sri Lanka, glued to their television sets, watched Sanath Jayasuria and Kumara Sangakkara launch a fierce attack on the Australian bowling in the World Cup Final in Barbados, suddenly Colombo was plunged in darkness, as power was switched off in the Sri Lankan capital. Two propeller-driven aircraft of the LTTE's "Tamileelam Air Force" had conducted a low-level bombing run on the capital, hitting some petroleum storage facilities. This was the third air attack launched by the LTTE in just over a month.

On March 26 the LTTE launched an aerial attack on the capital's Katunayake air-base and followed it up with a strike on the Palaly airfield near Jaffna, the major supply base for the Sri Lankan armed forces in the country's Tamil-dominated Northern Province.

Though the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE pay lip service to a Norwegian brokered cease-fire declared in 2002, both sides have grossly violated its provisions. The LTTE used the ceasefire to strengthen and consolidate its position in Sri Lanka's North-East. The Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa appears to have reached he conclusion that it can severely weaken the LTTE with ground and air attacks. While denying that it seeks a military solution to the conflict, the Government has used its Israeli Kfir ground attack aircraft and newly acquired MiG-27s to launch heavy air aids on LTTE strongholds.

Given Velupillai Prabhakaran's obsession with "eliminating" all his rivals, the Sri Lankan Government has used its alliance with Prabhakaran's arch-rival, Karuna, who wields considerable clout in the Eastern Province, to weaken the hold of the LTTE in the East.

Sri Lanka is seen in India as one of its closest and friendliest neighbours. Sri Lanka supported our candidature for Permanent Membership of the UN Security Council. It joined India in advocating greater economic integration in SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation), with President Rajapaksa even proposing a South Asian Monetary Union at the New Delhi SAARC Summit.

Bilateral trade and investment relations with Sri Lanka are booming after the two sides concluded a free trade agreement. India is the fourth largest investor in Sri Lanka, with Indian business and industry seeing scope for rapid expansion in investments and businesses in Sri Lanka. Indian PSUs such as IOC, NTPL, RITES and IRCON are poised for further expansion of these ties.

While India has not been unduly concerned about Sri Lanka's arms acquisitions from China and Pakistan, it will have to keep a close watch on agreements Sri Lanka has reached with China for the development of the Hambantota Port, for which Beijing has extended Colombo a loan of $375 million.

China Factor, Terror Network

Given China's attempts to contain India in the Indian Ocean by establishing its presence in Sittwe in Myanmar and Gwadar in Pakistan, and its interest in port facilities in Maldives and Seychelles, New Delhi cannot but keep a close eye on the Chinese presence in Hambantota.

It is unfortunate that New Delhi has been forced to curtail its military assistance to Sri Lanka because of the "compulsions" of "coalition politics" in India. But as the LTTE has developed contacts with groups ranging from the ULFA to the Maoists, it is imperative to reinforce maritime cooperation and intelligence contacts with Colombo, to ensure that the LTTE's air warfare capabilities are detected and eliminated as soon as possible. Terrorist organisations in our neighbourhood cannot be allowed to have pretensions that they can sustain their maritime and air warfare capabilities.

Given the adverse public reaction, even in Chennai, to attacks by the "Sea Tigers" on fishermen from Tamil Nadu, it is unfortunate that no sustained campaign has been mounted within India on the national security risks posed by LTTE activities in and around Tamil Nadu. At the same time, however, India has to encourage Sri Lanka to put forward credible proposals for the devolution of power to its Tamil population.

Responding to calls from the international community for plans that would meet legitimate Tamil aspirations, Sri Lanka's ruling SLFP put forward proposals for devolution of power on May 1, 2007, which fell far short of even minimal Tamil aspirations. Even mainstream and moderate Tamil parties friendly to the SLFP, such as the EPDP led by Douglas Devananda, have "totally" rejected these proposals, as they do not contain provisions for empowered provincial legislatures.

Devolution Of Power

They have noted that "the quantum of power to be devolved has been reduced and not enhanced". The May 1 proposals envisage the establishment of District Development Councils, as units of decentralised power. Under the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardene Accord of 1987, which came into force under the Thirteenth Amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution, the Provincial Councils were set up with temporary unification of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Between 1995 and 2000 President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her two advisers, Prof G. L. Peiris and Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam, proposed a devolution package with federal characteristics. President Kumaratunga was forced to back off for fear of a Sinhala backlash.

The recent devolution package proposed by the SLFP and backed by President Rajapaksa are akin to proposals put forward by Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake on June 5, 1968. Under those proposals elected Tamil representatives at the district level were made virtually subordinate to a Chief Executive Officer appointed and paid by the Federal Government. These proposals were rejected even by mainstream Tamil political parties and, when implemented by President Jayawardene in June 1981, were faced with growing Tamil separatist demands.

New Delhi's Role

Sri Lankan officials claim that their current proposals for district level devolution really envisage grassroots, village-level democracy and that they have been inspired to move in this direction by the presentations made on Panchayati Raj by the Panchayati Raj Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, when he visited Sri Lanka. But, surely, Mr Aiyar was not advocating that Panchayati Raj as a substitute for meaningful provincial devolution. New Delhi will have to clarify this to Colombo.

Influential sections of the leadership in Sri Lanka appear to believe that they have the LTTE on the run and can now afford to go back on earlier proposals for meaningful devolution of power. This is a recipe for continuing civil strife. While India and the international community have an interest in the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, they equally have a responsibility to encourage Colombo to seek abiding political solutions to the ethnic conflict.

New Delhi will have to move imaginatively to get Sri Lanka to agree to be more forthcoming in addressing legitimate Tamil aspirations in the island-nation.

(The author is a former High Commissioner to Pakistan.)