Winning the Peace

It has been a year since the guns fell silent in the 25 year long insurgency in Sri Lanka with the comprehensive defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) and the death of its megalomaniac supremo Prabhakaran by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. Importantly, a total military victory though a rarity in a full blown insurgency, it goes to the credit of the Sri Lankan Army to have successfully terminated the Civil War on its terms in the ‘emerald island’. Credit for this unprecedented military success must also be given to the unflagging resolute leadership exhibited by Sri Lankan President Mahida Rajapakse. For the common Sinhalese and to an extent, the beleaguered  Tamils in Sri Lanka( suffering at the hands of  both the Sri Lankan forces and Prabhakaran’s atrocities), the end of this very violent and bloody fratricidal conflict which consumed over a lakh lives  have brought eagerly awaited relief  for  peaceful co-existence among all hues of Sri Lankans.

For India too, the cessation of these hostilities has been a more than welcome development. For over two decades, India had to walk a tight-rope balancing its domestic compulsions (read its own Tamil population) with regional diplomatic pressures (read relations with Sri Lanka). No impartial observer can also wish away India’s contribution in assisting Sri Lanka right from the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in the mid 80s in Sri Lanka, provision of political, financial and other subtle forms of intelligence and military support. Sri Lankans will also recall the near-total absence of international support during the insurgency owing to the West’s perception of Sri Lankan Army’s alleged human rights violations against the Tamils in their country.  Can anyone, especially the Sri Lankans ever forget, that for its support to Sri Lanka, India ultimately paid a very heavy price in losing its young and promising Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at the hands of a Tamil Tigers assassin. However, now India must take stock of the current overall strategic political situation as obtaining in Sri Lanka and make maximum use of President Mahida’s visit to India on 8 June to put across the many related issues concerning Indo-Sri Lankan relations and vastly improve them for mutual benefit in the foreseeable future.

 Though the Sri Lankans have decisively routed the Tamil Tigers, yet winning and sustaining the peace in their country will require sincere and transparent efforts on part of the Sri Lankan government to bring back their long-suffering Tamils into their national mainstream. The first challenge in the aftermath of the cessation of hostilities was rehabilitating the over 3 lakhs Internally Displaced People(IDP), out of which it is claimed by the Sri Lankan authorities that only 50,000 Tamils are left to be re-settled.   Clearance of indiscriminately laid mines and arms caches in the countryside of the LTTE understandably would have been time-consuming. Various development projects and plans for socio-economic development have been initiated by the authorities in the North and East regions which is home to its minority Tamil population. In addition, to encourage better participation in democracy at the local levels, Sri Lanka’s implementation of the 13th Amendment is an important feature. The Government has also established an eight member ‘Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’ which will be striving for, as stated by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in New Delhi “for restorative justice and not retributive justice.” Overall, the Sri Lankans are endeavouring for a ‘home grown solution’ conceived from the majority-minority, demography, religious and other causative factors of the insurgency. In addition, the Sri Lankan government has to bear in mind that owing to the perceived human rights violations by its Army, its stock internationally is rather low especially with the European Union and diverse well-known NGOs. It intends to make Tamil, rightfully, as one of the national languages. Nevertheless, the Sri Lankan government is naturally chary of the activities of the powerful Tamil Diaspora across the world which is likely to continue with its demands for independence under the aegis of the trans-national government of Tamil Eelam led by LTTE leader Visunathan Rudrakumaran in the US.

 India has had close civilisational, ethnic, cultural ties with Sri Lanka and the relationships have been largely cordial. Surprisingly, India has yielded, time and again, some strategic space in the island to China  which having helped construct the port of Hamanbatota in Sri Lanka,has now a foothold in the Indian Ocean and in our immediate South which could have been avoided had we acceded to Sri Lankan request to construct the port in the first instance. Earlier, India has refused many times the Lankan request to supply it with weapons which made the latter to turn to Pakistan and in recent years to China. Unquestionably, .China’s influence in Sri Lanka is rising and some in the Sri Lankan establishment too have displayed an inclination to play China against India. Nevertheless, India must reinforce its proactive endeavours in assisting Sri Lanka especially in the war-ravaged zones in its North in developmental activities. Without interfering in the internal affairs of its tiny neighbour, India is still looked upon by the Sri Lankan Tamils and Muslims alike to keep a benign eye on their welfare till complete political and economic integration of all the communities in Sri Lanka takes place. India, which for years, has been imparting military training to the Sri Lankan Armed Forces must forge much greater military linkages with them including in military equipment and other military supplies. Trade and tourism is fortunately on the upswing between the two countries. China in pursuit of its ‘string of pearls strategy’ will continue to make many inroads into Sri Lanka using its financial muscle but India must carve out its own independent role in Sri Lanka as its part of being the leading power in South Asia besides its age-old ties and geographical proximity with Sri Lanka.

The forthcoming visit of President Rajapakse will be an opportune time for plain speaking and ultimately to cement Indo-Sri Lankan ties which must not be held to ransom by China’s strategic machinations.    

Lt Gen Kamal Davar was the founder Director General of The Defence Intelligence Agency

(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views either of the Editorial Committee or the Centre for Land Warfare Studies).