New lankan President mends ties with India
It's a little over three months since Mr Maithripala Sirisena took charge as the President of Sri lanka, ousting Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa. His 100-day report card is one of change more than of continuity, especially with regard to relations between Colombo and New Delhi. Although Mr Rajapaksa had gained a reputation of being pro-India in the initial years of his tenure, it meandered into ambiguity at first and then outright hostility towards the end of his last term. True, New Delhi had not helped matters by siding with forces at international forums to embarrass Colombo on the issue of reconciliation between the Sri lankan regime and the Tamil population and on the alleged atrocities during the last leg of the civil war Mr Rajapaksa's Government had waged with the liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Still, given that India had otherwise largely backed Mr Rajapaksa, and many sections of the commentariat in this country had supported the anti-lTTE drive, the then President's antagonism towards New Delhi came as a shock.
The spin-off impact was the slow but certain increase in China's influence in the island-nation, with the Rajapaksa Government going out of its way to shut out India and offer the Chinese more stakes in its nation's developmental projects. What took the cake was the remark by Mr Rajapaksa that certain elements in India's external intelligence agency, the Research & Analysis Wing, had plotted his electoral defeat. Nobody is saying that the R&AW has kept aloof from Sri lankan affairs these decades, but his allegation sounded more of an outburst by an embittered and deeply prejudiced leader. Mr Sirisena has sought to put India-Sri lanka ties back on track. He reportedly told visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry that he considered India to be his nation's ‘special’ neighbour. Mr Sirisena has halted the furious pace with which Chinese projects were proceeding in Sri lanka, on the pretext that his Government was concerned about allegations of corruption.
The Sirisena Government has also demonstrated its fair intent by releasing, at least on two occasions, Indian fishermen its security agencies had apprehended after they entered the lankan waters. Sri lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe may have created some worry by his blunt remark that those who violate his country's maritime territorial integrity deserve the death penalty, but it failed to douse the overall sense of uplift in bilateral relations. In any case, Mr Wickremesinghe clarified that he was only stating the legal position. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Sri lanka and his lankan counterpart's trip to India have further helped in developing a deeper understanding between the two countries and their peoples.
Of course, India-Sri lanka ties depend heavily on the policies that Colombo puts in place with regard to its Tamil-speaking population, which had for three decades been caught in a crossfire between the Government and the lTTE. Mr Sirisena has promised progress on the recommendations of the lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission; replaced the military Governor of the Tamil-majority Northern Province with a civilian head; and is seeking to work in harmony with the Tamil National Alliance provincial regime. These are good signs.