Diplomacy with Lanka has been spot-on

In April 1977, just after the Janata Party government assumed office, the eminent Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko arrived in Delhi, looking visibly nervous. Having backed Indira Gandhi’s Emergency Rule, Gromyko expected a cold reception in South Block. His counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee smilingly put him at ease saying: “Indo-Soviet relations are strong and do not depend on the political fortunes of any individual or political party.”

Happily, that type of statesmanship was retained amidst the heated rhetoric of the current election campaign. The two major national parties have not bickered about the approach to two important foreign policy issues. As tensions escalated in Ukraine, the UPA government took the position that while we would like issues to be resolved peacefully between the parties concerned, the legitimate interests of Russia cannot be overlooked. This was followed by the decision for India to abstain in a US-sponsored resolution in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) seeking an international inquiry into and involvement on the issue of civilian casualties in the last days of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

This was a sensitive issue, with passions being competitively inflamed by parties in Tamil Nadu, some of whom are allied to the NDA. Despite the surcharged atmosphere, the BJP did not oppose the government action and, in fact, let it be known what it felt about India’s larger national interests.

This resolution, unlike in the past, included the constitution of an open-ended international investigation into developments in a sovereign member state. This goes beyond the understanding and basic operative principles of the UNHRC. Moreover, unlike Security Council resolutions, UNHRC resolutions UNHRC are not enforceable by international sanctions.

Not surprisingly, only 23 of the Council’s 47 members supported the resolution, with the majority either abstaining or voting against. Apart from South Korea, every other member of India’s Asian and Indian Ocean neighbourhood either abstained or voted against the resolution. These included China, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Despite their reputed global influence, the US and its allies could pick up support only from a few Latin American and African countries,

The approach to the vote of the UNHRC revealed that both the national parties felt that while India was committed to the safety, welfare and human dignity of the Tamils in Northern Sri Lanka, it should not allow itself to be totally isolated in Asia on an issue concerning its immediate neighbourhood. Based on the support it received from the two permanent members of the Security Council (China and Russia) and the overwhelming majority of Asian and Indian Ocean littoral states, Sri Lanka will ignore the more intrusive aspects of the UNHRC recommendations.

Moreover, we would only open strategic space for China and Pakistan in the Indian Ocean by totally alienating Sri Lanka. Also, it would become difficult for India to implement projects for the economic benefit of the Tamils in northern Sri Lanka without Sri Lanka’s cooperation.

New Delhi’s strategy has to be two-pronged. Politically, it has to work with world and regional powers to ensure that Sri Lanka fulfils its commitment to credibly inquire into the entire range of human rights violations alluded to by its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. This has to be accompanied by a phased and early reduction in the presence of the army in the north and an end to interference by the army in civilian affairs.

Joint patrolling of the maritime boundary has to be enhanced to ensure there is no inflow of weapons to the north. The required essential powers have not been devolved to the chief minister of the Northern Province, CV Vigneswaran. Colombo’s bureaucrats have to be warned that they will face action if they continue to flout his directives.

Economically, India’s substantial aid programme will have to be continued vigorously. India has allocated an estimated $1.3 billion (₹8,000 crore) — its largest ever development assistance programme — for Northern Sri Lanka. At the grassroots levels, 2,50,000 family packs comprising clothing, utensils and food items have been distributed. Cement and other building materials have been given for war damaged houses and 95,000 packs of seeds and agricultural implements provided to those tilling the land. The projects being undertaken include the construction of 50,000 homes and supply of materials to repair around 43,000 residences.

There have also been major projects for the development of rail transportation, port infrastructure in Kankesanthurai, a 500 MW thermal power station in Sampur and upgrading of Palaly airport. The development of human resources have been facilitated by upgrading schools and vocational training centres, constructing hospitals and employment generation projects in agriculture, fisheries, small industries and handicrafts.

Despite the stormy rhetoric, there has been no worthwhile effort from the government, civil society organisations, political parties and business houses in Tamil Nadu to see how human and developmental resources could be offered to people in Northern Sri Lanka.

Given its vast resources in fields such as IT and technical education, the State could make an immense contribution through collaborative interaction with people in Jaffna and elsewhere, to ensure that the North emerges as a technical and industrial hub of Sri Lanka. This would require a cooperative effort involving the Governments of India and Sri Lanka, together with the state government in Chennai and the provincial government in Jaffna.

This would be a far better approach than joining the US and its European partners, who have contributed precious little to the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils.

I met representatives of the forgotten “plantation/Indian” or “hill country” Tamils in Colombo recently. They recalled how under the leadership of GG Ponambalam, the Northern Tamils colluded with the Sinhala leadership to disenfranchise them in 1949. After obtaining Sri Lankan citizenship by peaceful democratic means, they are now part of the mainstream. They are, however, saddened that they are forgotten by New Delhi and ignored by the leadership and people in Tamil Nadu.

The writer is a former high commissioner to Pakistan

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