Indo-Sri Lankan relations
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| India | Sri Lanka |
Bilateral relations between the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of India have been generally friendly, but were controversially affected by the on-going Sri Lankan civil war and by the failure of Indian intervention during the Sri Lankan civil war. India is the only neighbour of Sri Lanka, separated by the Palk Strait; both nations occupy a strategic position in South Asia and have sought to build a common security umbrella in the Indian Ocean.[1]
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[edit] Development of bilateral relations
India and Sri Lanka established diplomatic relations when the latter gained its independence in 1948. Both nations proceeded to establish extensive cultural, commercial, strategic and defence ties to establish a common sphere of influence in the region, adopting non-alignment to control Western and Soviet influence.[2] The close relationship between the then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and then-Sri Lankan Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike led to the development of strong bilateral relations.[2] In 1971, Indian armed forces helped squash a Communist rebellion against the Sri Lankan government.[1]
[edit] Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan civil war
In the 1980s, private entities and elements in the state government of Tamil Nadu were believed to be encouraging the funding and training for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist insurgent force.[2].In 1987, faced with growing anger amongst its own Tamils, and a flood of refugees,[3] India intervened directly in the conflict for the first time after the Sri Lankan government attempted to regain control of the northern Jaffna region by means of an economic blockade and military assaults, India supplied food and medicine by air and sea. After subsequent negotiations, India and Sri Lanka entered into an agreement. The peace accord assigned a certain degree of regional autonomy in the Tamil areas with Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) controlling the regional council and called for the Tamil militant groups to lay down their arms. Further India was to send a peacekeeping force, named the IPKF to Sri Lanka to enforce the disarmament and to watch over the regional council.[4][5][2][6]
Even though the accord was signed between the governments of Sri Lanka and India, with the Tamil Tigers and other Tamil militant groups not having a role in the signing of the accord[7], most Tamil militant groups accepted this agreement,[8] the LTTE rejected the accord because they opposed the candidate, who belonged to another militant group named Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), for chief administrative officer of the merged Northern and Eastern provinces[5]. Instead the LTTE named three other candidates for the position. The candidates proposed by the LTTE were rejected by India. [9] The LTTE subsequently refused to hand over their weapons to the IPKF. [7]
The result was that the LTTE now found itself engaged in military conflict with the Indian Army, and launched their first attack on an Indian army rations truck on October 8, killing five Indian para-commandos who were on board by strapping burning tires around their necks.[10] The government of India then decided that the IPKF should disarm the LTTE by force,[11] and the Indian Army launched number of assaults on the LTTE, including a month-long campaign dubbed Operation Pawan to win control of the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE. When the IPKF engaged the LTTE, the then president of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa, began supporting LTTE and funded LTTE with arms[5]. During the warfare with the ltte IPKF was also alleged for human rights violation against the civilians. Notably, IPKF was alleged to have perpetrated Jaffna teaching hospital massacre which was the killing of over 70 civilians including patients, doctors and nurses.[12] The ruthlessness of this campaign, and the Indian army's subsequent anti-LTTE operations made it extremely unpopular amongst many Tamils in Sri Lanka.[13][14]. The conflict between the LTTE and the Indian Army left over 1,000 Indian soldiers dead.[1][2]
The Indo-Sri Lankan Accord, which had been unpopular amongst Sri Lankans for giving India a major influence, now became a source of nationalist anger and resentment as the IPKF was drawn fully into the conflict. Sri Lankans protested the presence of the IPKF, and the newly-elected Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa demanded its withdrawal, which was completed by March 1990.[2]. on May 21, 1992, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated and the LTTE was alleged to be the perpetrator. As a result India declared the LTTE to be a terrorist outfit in 1992. Bilateral relations improved in the 1990s and India supported the peace process but has resisted calls to get involved again.[15] India has also been wary of and criticised the extensive military involvement of Pakistan in the conflict, accusing the latter of supplying lethal weaponry and encouraging Sri Lanka to pursue military action rather than peaceful negotiations to end the civil war.[16]
[edit] Commercial ties
India and Sri Lanka are member nations of several regional and multilateral organisations such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme, South Asian Economic Union and BIMSTEC, working to enhance cultural and commercial ties. Since a bilateral free trade agreement was signed and came into effect in 2000, Indo-Sri Lankan trade rose 128% by 2004 and quadrupled by 2006, reaching USD 2.6 billion.[17][18] Between 2000 and 2004, India's exports to Sri Lanka in the last four years increased by 113%, from USD 618 million to $1,319 million while Sri Lankan exports to India increased by 342%, from $44 million to USD $194 million.[17] Indian exports account for 14% of Sri Lanka’s global imports. India is also the fifth largest export destination for Sri Lankan goods, accounting for 3.6% of its exports.[17] Both nations are also signatories of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). Negotiations are also underway to expand the free trade agreement to forge stronger commercial relations and increase corporate investment and ventures in various industries.[18]
India's National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) is also scheduled to build a 500 MW thermal power plant in Sampoor (Sampur). The NTPC claims that the this plan will take the Inod-Srilankan relationship to new level. [19]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c India's Sri Lankan scars
- ^ a b c d e f India - Sri Lanka
- ^ "Tamil Militant Groups" (1988). Sri Lanka: A Country Study.
- ^ The Peace Accord and the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Hennayake S.K. Asian Survey, Vol. 29, No. 4. (April 1989), pp. 401-415.
- ^ a b c Stokke, K.; Ryntveit, A.K. (2000). "The Struggle for Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka". A Journal of Urban and Regional Policy 31 (2): 285-304. doi:.
- ^ "INDIA AIRLIFTS AID TO TAMIL REBELS", STEVEN R. WEISMAN, New York Times, 5 June 1987.
- ^ a b Hellmann-rajanayagam, D. (1994). The Tamil Tigers: Armed Struggle for Identity. Franz Steiner Verlag.
- ^ O'Ballance, 91
- ^ O'Ballance, p.94
- ^ O'Ballance, p.100
- ^ O'Ballance, p.100
- ^ Somasundaram, D. (1997). "Abandoning jaffna hospital: Ethical and moral dilemmas". Medicine, Conflict and Survival 13 (4): 333-347. doi:.
- ^ Statistics on civilians affected by war from 1974 - 2004. NESOHR. Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
- ^ History of the Organisation. University Teachers for Human Rights.
- ^ India rules out Sri Lanka help
- ^ The Pakistani muscle behind Colombo
- ^ a b c FTA pushes up India, Lanka Trade by 128%
- ^ a b India, Sri Lanka aim to Broaden Free-Trade Agreement
- ^ India's Sri Lanka power project runs into Tamil storm
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