Neighbourhood
can’t be ignored
| by Raj
Chengappa
( October 26,
2012, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) The decision to increase engagements with
Sri Lanka in the area of defence shows the realisation has ultimately dawned on
the UPA government at the Centre that relations with India’s neighbours cannot
be allowed to be dictated by state-level parties. If there is a clash between
the interests of the nation and those of a state, the former should get
precedence. It is, therefore, in the fitness of things that Defence Secretary
Shashikant Sharma had wide-ranging talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart
Gotabaya Rajapaksa in New Delhi on different issues related to defence. Sri
Lanka is a very important neighbour of India and had been eagerly looking for
different kinds of help from New Delhi.
The Tamil
Nadu-based political formations like the AIADMK headed by J. Jayalalithaa and
the DMK led by M. Karunanidhi have been opposed to any kind of defence-related
arrangements with the island-nation because of their party interests. The
sentiments of the Tamils, of course, must be taken care of for protecting the
unity of the country. The Tamils in India find it difficult to forget what
happened to the Tamils in Sri Lanka at the hands of the armed forces there
during the fight between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Elam (LTTE). The suffering of the Sri Lankan Tamils affected the psyche of the
people in Tamil Nadu considerably.
But this is only
one aspect of how to protect India’s interests in Sri Lanka. People in the
state need to be convinced that the interests of the Tamils in the
island-nation cannot be protected by keeping aloof from the developments in
that country. There are similarities in the interests of the Indian Tamils and
those of the nation as a whole. The people of the state need to be educated about
the whole matter by asking them to be pragmatic, keeping their sentiments
aside. India cannot afford to allow to China and Pakistan to take advantage of
the complications in India’s relations with Sri Lanka. Already China has
strengthened its position in Sri Lanka with its increased involvement in
various strategic projects there. We must not be guided by sentiments alone.
(The writer,
editor in Chief, The Tribune)
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