COLONEL
R HARIHARAN
[This
article is based on the notes used in a TV panel discussion on the talks
between the visiting Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on September 15, 2015. It touches upon three issues that
figured in their statements at a press meet on the same day.]
Question:
It is rather strange that when Sri Lanka government has not reduced the
military presence in the Northern Province as demanded by Tamils for a long
time, Prime Minister Modi has spoken of expanding defence cooperation with Sri
Lanka. He said India would expand cooperation with Sri Lanka in three areas:
training of Sri Lanka armed forces, security of the maritime neighbourhood and
in combating terrorism. The reference to ‘combating terrorism’ does not make
sense because Sri Lanka has claimed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE)
has been wiped out. What are your
comments?
Answer: The two prime ministers have not
touched upon the issue of reducing the army strength in Northern Province in
their statements, probably because it was not discussed. In any case, this
issue has been debated many times in this forum. So I don’t see the point in
linking it up with defence cooperation between the two nations. I shall confine
my comments to three aspects: extending our military training facilities to Sri
Lanka, maritime security cooperation and combating terrorism.
Extending
our military training facilities
Indian
armed forces are the biggest in the region next only to China with extensive
military training infrastructure and years of experience in training armed
forces. India had thrown open these
training facilities for Sri Lanka’s use for nearly four decades. And Sri Lanka
is not the only country to avail of our military training infrastructure facilities
for their forces. Over 32 countries, particularly in our neighbourhood, and
some African and Arab countries have been training in our facilities. So we
have not made an exception in the case of Sri Lanka, though probably it had
benefitted the most.
So Modi’s
reference to further expanding existing levels of cooperation in this field
between India and Sri Lanka has to be understood in this broader strategic
context and not solely on the basis of Sri Lanka Tamil issue.
As the
two countries are geographically too close to each other, it will be in their
national interest to optimize their military capabilities to ensure their
security is mutually reinforcing. Moreover, Sri Lanka is the vanguard of
peninsular India’s defence because any threat to it will adversely affect
India’s own national security. Military
training is perhaps the best method of achieving greater understanding, close
coordination and cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries.
Maritime
security cooperation
Sometime
back, India entered into maritime security cooperation agreement with Sri Lanka
and Maldives. Under the agreement, Indian Navy, the largest force of its kind
in the Indian Ocean region(IOR), has been protecting their interests in their
huge extended economic zones(EEZ) in Indian Ocean from external exploitation. It is strategically important for all the
three countries to sustain such cooperation to protect not only the natural
resources undersea in the EEZ but also from external naval threat.
This
becomes important as the Indian Ocean sea lanes are increasingly becoming
strategic life line of global maritime trade and commerce and naval power
assertion by its major users to protect their interests. India’s maritime trade
is increasing in tandem with its expanding economic power and it has benefitted
both Sri Lanka and Maldives. For Indian container based traffic Colombo is perhaps
the most important port of call.
The
strategic scene in Indian Ocean region is changing rapidly. Chinese naval
presence is increasing in our vicinity in the Indian Ocean; it is helping
Pakistan Navy to increase its naval capability. Indian Navy is also in an
expansion spree. So the IOR is becoming the focus of maritime security concern
not only to regional powers, but also to the US and its allies who are
increasingly concerned at the PLA Navy’s increasing presence.
China
has created port infrastructure in Colombo and Hambantota Sri Lanka in and in
Gwadar in Pakistan. And Chinese warships have berthed in these ports causing
uneasiness among India’s strategic planners. Sri Lanka and Maldives have also
entered into strategic security cooperation agreements with China. So it makes
sense for India to ensure existing maritime security arrangements with Sri
Lanka and Maldives are further reinforced and strengthened. This would explain
why we have been training the naval and coast guard forces of Sri Lanka and
Maldives to improve their capacities and capabilities.
Cooperation
in combating terrorism
It is
true that the LTTE has been wiped out in Sri Lanka at the end of the Eelam War
in May 2009. However, the Tamil Tigers overseas modules particularly in Europe,
Canada and UK have continued to exist with a low public profile. Though they
are lying low at an opportune moment the possibility of they becoming active to
revive separatist insurgency cannot be
ruled out. A few LTTE modules have also been busted in Tamil Nadu from where
they could have easily infiltrated Sri Lanka. These reports have made Sri Lanka wary of the Tamil Tiger
terrorism sprouting once again in Sri Lanka. India is also aware of the dangers
of LTTE (where it is proscribed) terrorists staging a comeback. So the two
countries (including Tamil Nadu) have been exchanging vital information on
suspected Tamil insurgent group’s activities.
There is
yet another angle to terrorist threat. In the recent past, there had been
instances of Jihadi terrorists from Pakistan infiltrating into India using
Colombo as a transit point. In these instances involvement of Pakistan ISI
operating from the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo had come to India’s
notice. There is also the lingering threat of the Islamic State (ISIS)
terrorists making an entry into India using Sri Lanka as the take off point.
Thus Sri Lanka’s cooperation has become essential for India to ensure such
attempts are not made by. So we have to
under the Indian Prime Minister’s reference to cooperation in prevent Pakistan
intelligence agencies and Jihadi terrorist elements using Sri Lanka to the
detriment of our national security. Modi’s reference to combating terrorism has
to be understood in this broader context rather than solely on the possible
revival of LTTE.
[Col R Hariharan, a retired MI
specialist on South Asia, served as the head of intelligence with the Indian
Peace Keeping Force from 1987 to 90. E-mail: haridirect@gmail.com
Blog; http://col.hariharan.info
]
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