Sri Lanka’s foreign minister concluded a visit to New Delhi to meet with his Indian counterpart this week, and was full of praise for what he termed the “very special relationship” between the two countries, even as Colombo continued to obfuscate the issue of devolving powers to Tamils on the island.
G L Peiris met with S Jaishankar this week, where the two reportedly discussed “economic and investment initiatives that will strengthen Sri Lanka at this time”.
The visit comes after New Delhi granted Sri Lanka desperately needed financial assistance, which included a currency swap arrangement of US $400 million and a two-month debt deferral of US$515 million.
“There’s no doubt whatsoever that Indian support at this critical juncture has made a world of difference. It has helped us to tide over the immediate difficulties which were obviously acute,” Peiris told The Hindu.
“All of this has engendered a degree of confidence which we didn’t see in the immediate past. And it has brought into being very special relation… there is a feeling that India has always stepped in when Sri Lanka needed it.”
Devolution to Tamils
However, Peiris admitted that when it comes to devolving powers to Tamils on the island, including through the 13th Amendment, developments were still slow.
“There is at the moment, a comprehensive constitutional reform exercise that is underway,” he said, referring to a Sri Lankan initiative that is rumoured to look to modify the amendment that devolves powers to the Tamil North-East.
“There is a committee of experts who is preparing a draft that is expected to be ready and to be submitted within the next two months. And this [devolution] is one of the issues that will no doubt be addressed in that draft.”
He went on to state that “if there is a great deal of resistance experienced” to devolution, “then it will be difficult to implement on the ground”.
In recent weeks, a group of Tamil parliamentarians wrote to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling on him to ensure that the 13th Amendment would be implemented as a starting point for devolution of powers. Though the constitutional amendment was passed in 1987, as part of the Indo-Lanka Accord, successive Sri Lankan governments have refused to implement various aspects of it, whilst the Sri Lankan Supreme Court struck down the merger of the Northern and Eastern Province, claiming it was “illegal”.
The Tamil National Peoples’ Front have led a campaign against the 13th Amendment, calling for any political solution to recognise Tamil nationhood and self-determination.
When asked as to why talks between Tamil leaders and the Sri Lankan president had not taken place yet, 8 months since they were supposed to have happened, Peiris claimed “Covid-19 has intervened”.
The Sri Lankan foreign minister also attempted to assuage fears over China’s relationship with Colombo, stating that “there’s no exclusivity in Sri Lanka’s foreign policy”
“We have repeatedly assured that under no circumstances would we allow any part of Sri Lanka’s territory territorial waters are aspirants to be utilised in any manner that is detrimental to India or to any other other friends,” he said. “So there really is no need for apprehensions to be entertained. It is it is just a kind of fear, which has no logical basis.”
With regards to the issue of Indian fishermen, who have recently clashed with their Eelam Tamil counterparts and frequently with the Sri Lankan navy, Peiris admitted that this remained a “real flashpoint in the relationship between the two countries”.
“There’s goodwill on both sides, and there is the realisation and the result,” he added but did not elaborate on any further solution to the issue that has plagued the Palk Strait for years.
Read more from The Hindu here.
