Col R Hariharan
President Sirisena’s visit to India
In a welcome gesture, newly
elected President Sirisena made New Delhi his first foreign destination after
assuming office. Even during the run up to the election both he and the
opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had spoken of
their intention to correct Rajapakse’s China-tilt to correct the imbalance in
the relations with India.
The President’s four-day visit
from February 15, 2015 went off smoothly; even the usual noisy protests in
Tamil Nadu that were against Rajapakse’s visit were missing. After his cordial
talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the two countries signed four pacts
including an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation for peaceful use were
signed.
Though there was a lot of media
hype about the nuclear agreement, as Sri Lanka has no immediate plans on using
nuclear energy only in scientific and
medical fields, its importance is limited to opening up a green field area for
bilateral cooperation. Apart from an agreement on Cultural Cooperation for
2015-18 two other memoranda of understanding were also signed. One related to
Sri Lanka participation in the Nalanda University project while the other was
on the Work Plan 3024-15 for agricultural cooperation.
Overall, there were no new
affirmations or path breaking initiatives on both sides during the Sri Lanka
President’s visit. Even the hardy perennial issues of implementation of the 13th
amendment in full to trigger the reconciliation process with Tamils and the
post-war rehabilitation did not find place in communiqués and media releases. Of
course both mentioned the Tamil Nadu fishermen’s issue with the hope it would
be amicably resolved.
So the purpose of President
Sirisena’s visit appears to be to get to know the new leadership under Modi and
rebuild the bruised relation between the two countries. He probably reassured
India that he was serious about correcting the tilt towards China. Sirisena
needs India’s support and influence in UN forums to help Sri Lanka get out of
the standoff with the UNHRC as well as to strengthen its negotiating position
with China on revising the terms of China- aided projects and in investigating
corruption allegations in them. India can also give a boost to Sri Lanka
economy which is facing the looming burden of debt servicing. This would
improve his credibility. India can also be useful in helping to swing TNA
support in favour of the ruling national unity front in the forthcoming general
elections.
However, when Modi makes his maiden visit to
Colombo in March 2015 we can expect some specific plans on attending to India’s
concerns on Tamil issues, balanced relations between China and India and
greater bilateral cooperation and Indian assistance for Sri Lanka.
Prospects for national unity government
The present government appears to be keen to form a
national unity government after the parliamentary election due on April 23,
2015. This would enable it to take the restructuring process initiated under
the 100-day action plan to its logical conclusion of installing an empowered
prime minister with a president more accountable to parliament.
However,
it will require the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) opposition accepting the
idea. Though President Sirisena himself leads the SLFP this may not be easy.
The strong pro-Rajapaksa faction within Party and the smaller parties of its
UPFA coalition loyal to Rajapaksa are averse to the idea of a national unity
government. Rajapaksa-loyalists spearheaded by former minister and leader of
the National Freedom Front (NFF) Wimal Weeravansa have gained some credibility
after the UPFA members (without SLFP participation) recently organised a huge
rally in Nugegoda in support of Rajapaksa’s return to active politics. In fact,
three more such rallies are likely to be held in Kandy, Kurunegala and
Anuradhapura. Western Province’s UPFA provincial councillors and government
members have launched a campaign demanding Rajapaksa as the prime ministerial candidate.
Though Rajapaksa had been maintaining a studied silence on his return to
politics, if the support movement gathers momentum he could change his mind.
Army leadership changes
Lt General A. W. J. Crishanthe
De Silva belonging to the Corps of Sri Lanka Engineers has been appointed
Commander of the Army in the place of Lt
General Ravi Ratnayake who retired on February 22, 2015.
Deputy Urban Development
Minister Dinesh Gankanda has announced that nearly 18,000 soldiers deployed to
work on development projects under the Ministry of Defence and Urban
Development will be reverted to their regiments. He said this was in keeping
with the pledge made in the election manifesto of President Sirisena to stop
the employment of military personnel in occupations that undermine their
dignity.
Miscellaneous
In a shocking revelation in
parliament Minister of External Affairs Mangala Samaraweera disclosed that a
Sri Lankan ambassador of the Rajapaksa regime had used the Sri Lankan mission
in “a prominent country” to sell weapons. He also said that Sri Lankan
diplomatic missions abroad had been functioning as business centres during the
previous regime. He said he had called for a ministerial investigation from on
the deals and tasks carried out by Sri Lankan missions abroad during the
previous government.
In another such disclosure Deputy
Foreign Minister Ajith Perera had alleged that some of those who had received
diplomatic or official passports during the UPFA administration were believed
to have exploited the facility to smuggle in narcotics through the Colombo
international airport. Answering to a media query he claimed that they had used
the VIP channel for that purpose for years. In this context, it is interesting
to note the wife of NFF leader Weerawansa has been avoiding interrogation by
the CID for using forged documents to obtain diplomatic passport.
Written on February 28, 2015
(Col R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence specialist on
South Asia, served with the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka as Head of
Intelligence. He is associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies and
the South Asia Analysis Group. E-Mail: colhari@yahoo.com Blog: http://col.hariharan.info)
Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends, Vol 9 No 1 February 2015 www.security-risks.com
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