“So a trip by Manmohan Singh, if it does take place, will be the first by an Indian prime minister in 20 years, during which period several leaders from Sri Lanka have made it to New Delhi.”by M.R. Narayan Swamy
(December, 10, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lanka's announcement that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plans to visit Colombo in February has surprised India as it wants to link his trip to tangible progress in the island's peace process.
Those who know the prime minister's priorities feel that Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogolagama has spoken prematurely by stating that Manmohan Singh will attend Sri Lanka's 60th independence anniversary celebrations Feb 4, 2008.
No Indian prime minister has made a bilateral visit to Sri Lanka since 1987 when Rajiv Gandhi signed a peace accord with then president Junius Jayewardene in an attempt to end Tamil separatism. Both P.V. Narasimha Rao and I.K. Gujral went to Colombo to attend SAARC summits.
So a trip by Manmohan Singh, if it does take place, will be the first by an Indian prime minister in 20 years, during which period several leaders from Sri Lanka have made it to New Delhi.
Present Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has visited India four times since taking office in November 2005.
The Indian establishment is not against a Manmohan Singh trip per se. But questions are being asked if he should visit in circumstances that could signal New Delhi is backing Colombo's military approach to the ethnic conflict.
IANS understands that the Indian government is seriously worried over the apparent lack of progress on the issue of power sharing or devolution process, which it feels is so vital for the future of Sri Lanka.
There is mounting concern over the manner the Colombo-sponsored All Party Representative Committee (APRC), tasked with unveiling a devolution package, is becoming irrelevant due to delays, derailing the political process.
India would like an interim administration in Sri Lanka's northeast - either separately for the north and east or a joint one - so that the war-hit and overwhelmingly Tamil region gets a government that reflects local aspirations.
While the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controls large parts of the north, the Sri Lankan military has taken control of the entire east, comprising the districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai.
The thinking here is that certain conditions will have to be met vis-a-vis the dragging ethnic conflict if the Indian prime minister has to travel to Sri Lanka with the larger goal of contributing positively to the peace process.
India is aware that even moderate Sri Lankan Tamils are dismayed by Colombo's failure to bring about a political settlement and these Tamils are beginning to blame New Delhi's seeming inaction for the state of affairs.
There are also political actors in India who do not want Manmohan Singh to embrace a Sri Lankan regime that looks set - even apparently - on ending the war without seeking a political settlement.
While India maintains that it favours Sri Lanka's territorial unity, it feels that some in Colombo are perhaps mistakenly interpreting such a stand as support for a dragging conflict whose victims are mostly innocent civilians.
In the circumstances, India would like to see what progress Sri Lanka makes politically vis-a-vis the ethnic conflict before New Delhi gives a commitment on a Manmohan Singh visit, IANS learns.
Besides in New Delhi, Manmohan Singh has interacted with President Rajapakse in third countries and on telephone. On every occasion that Indian leaders have met their Sri Lankan counterparts, emphasis has been placed on a political settlement and an end to civilian suffering.
At the same time, the Indian government, which outlawed the LTTE in 1992, provides limited military assistance to Sri Lanka. But India's bottom line is that there can be no peace in Sri Lanka unless the legitimate political aspirations of the Tamil speaking people in the island nation are met.
- IANS report
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