Col R Hariharan
Prime Minister
Modi visits Sri Lanka
He also met with President Maithripala Sirisena opposition leaders including the leaders of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and briefly met with Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He counselled the TNA to rework its political strategy in keeping with the changed environment after the presidential election. He also met with Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran and war widows rendered destitute.
Modi’s objective
of Sri Lanka visit was to strengthen mutual ties which he described as resting
“on strong pillars of our shared inheritance; of shared values and vision; of
mutual support and solidarity; of friendly exchanges and productive
cooperation; and above all belief in each and our shared destiny.” In keeping
with this objective, he announced a number of initiatives. These include visa
on arrival for Sri Lanka tourists, extension of a fresh Line of Credit up to $
31o million for procuring rolling stock and upgrading railway track,
construction of Tagore auditorium in Matara, entering into a currency swap agreement
for $1.5 billion to keep Sri Lankan rupee stable.
Except for passing reference he did not emphasise problematic
issues like implementation of 13th Amendment;
on the fishermen issue he stressed its humanitarian and livelihood aspects and
hoped the meeting of fishermen from both sides would yield results. Overall,
Modi appeared to have put the New Delhi-Colombo relationship on better footing
than ever before.
President Sirisena’s visit to China
China had attached importance to President
Sirisena’s first visit to China after becoming president. His government is
carrying out a review of Chinese-promoted mega projects for corruption and
procedural lapses in their finalisation suspected to have benefitted the
Rajapaksa family. Sri Lanka prime minister had also accused Former President
Rajapaksa of partiality towards China to the detriment of Sri Lanka's cordial
relations with India. Chinese interest has been further kindled because
Sirisena was visiting China from March 25 to 28, just a week after Modi’s visit
to Sri Lanka where India-Sri Lanka strategic issues were probably discussed.
President Sirisena met with President Xi
Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the
National Peoples Congress Zhang Dejiang.
According to official Sri Lanka news site, the
two presidents exchanged views on a broad range of issues of mutual interest
covering bilateral political relations and economic cooperation including,
development cooperation, trade, investment and tourism and cultural cooperation
and people-to-people contacts in their bilateral talks on March 26. Sri Lanka
President said he shared the interest of China in the 21st Century Maritime
Silk Road for greater economic cooperation.
President Sirisena agreed to work towards the
successful conclusion of the proposed China-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) while recognising the asymmetries between the two economies, towards
achieving a more balanced and sustainable bilateral trade and economic
cooperation. President Sirisena also participated in the Boao Forum for Asia
Annual Conference 2015 on March 28 and addressed the conference.
However, Sri Lanka media reported that Sirisena also
informed the Chinese President that the suspension of Colombo Port City project
was only 'temporarily' and that it would be 'sorted out' soon. He also
clarified that the fault lay with the previous Sri Lankan regime which had
adopted corrupt practices to grant it approval and not the Chinese. To date this
issue does not seem to have been resolved; we can expect the government to
continue with the review till the Rajapaksa family connection to corrupt deals
are unravelled.
Implementation of
100-day agenda
President
Sirisena- Prime Minister Wickremesinghe duo has taken the following actions to
strengthen the national unity government and enact crucial legislations to
implement the 100-day agenda:
· SLFP becomes stakeholder in government: President Sirisena who is also the chairman of the SLFP main
opposition party in parliament, persuaded the Party to join the national unity
government by offering 25 cabinet berths. Though it resulted in number of
ministers going up from 46 to 79, it has enabled the government to push through
important legislations for carrying out structural reforms of executive
presidency, electoral system and greater accountability of government.
· 19th Amendment
(19A) to the Constitution: Salient points of 19A
tabled by the ruling national unity alliance in parliament on March 25 include
doing away with the designation of the President as “Head of Government”,
retaining the Prime Minister as head of the cabinet and making the President to act on the advice of the Prime Minister. Future Presidents will not be entitled to ministerial
portfolios. However, they will retain the right to summon meetings of the
Cabinet of Ministers “for the purpose of discussing any matter of national
importance, and shall preside at such meetings”.
· Changes in electoral system: The
draft enactment proposed by the Election Commissioner for reforming the present
system envisages the increase in parliament strength from 225 to 250 members
and modification of the system to directly elect 140 members, 80 members by
proportional representation and 30 seats to be filled from the national list.
The final enactment will be finalised once major parties accept the proposal.
Return of Rajapaksa
After holding rallies in Nugegoda and Kandy,
Former President Rajapaksa’s supporters organised a well-attended rally at
Ratnapura on March 26 to demand the return of Former President Rajapaksa to
power for “saving the country”. As many as 28 SLFP MPs participated in the
rally. In a message to the rally, the former president said "We were
defeated because international spy services and conspirators were in the
forefront," a theme he had stressed in his recent interview with The
Hindu.
Ratnapura district is a Rajapaksa-stronghold
where he won all the electorates in the presidential election. Rajapaksa’s
prominent supporters include the National Freedom Front leader Wimal
Weerawamsa, Western Provincial Council Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, leader
of the Democratic Left Front Vasudeva Nanayakkara, and leader of the Pivithuru
Hela Urumaya Udaya Gammanpila.
As the SLFP has officially joined the government, the Party may not officially support the demand for nominating Rajapaksa in the April general election. If it happens, the SLFP is in real danger of breaking up which could politically weaken Sirisena.
As the SLFP has officially joined the government, the Party may not officially support the demand for nominating Rajapaksa in the April general election. If it happens, the SLFP is in real danger of breaking up which could politically weaken Sirisena.
Written on
March 31, 2015
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