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by U.E. Perera

It has been announced that India and Sri Lanka will begin negotiations at any moment for the Indo-Lanka Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the proposed Defence Agreement. The CEPA is expected to widen the ambit and the scope of the Free Trade Agreement to go beyond trade in goods to include services, facilitate greater investment flows and also to further explore the possibilities and avenues of new areas of economic co-operation. The defence co-operation pact is expected to cover the areas of training, procurement, consultation etc.

The suitability and the vulnerability of the proposed Defence Agreement should be taken into consideration in the light of the developments that have taken place in the Indian Ocean and the various strategies planned-out by super-powers to get control of the Indian Ocean for their ulterior motives. Further, the 'ethnic war' in Sri Lanka and the incidents that have taken place in our own country from 1983 to the present day, have also had an impact on the Indian political scene and also on the affairs of the Southern State of India. Thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils were forced to leave Sri Lanka and take refuge in the Southern State of India due to the escalation of war. This was a severe drain on the Indian Economy. Another disturbing development that has emerged is the findings and the disclosures of the Indian Intelligence that the LTTE and the Indian secessionist movements, particulary in the North Eastern States of India have started 'cohabiting' with each other.

As India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka from 1985 to 1989 J.N. Dixit says in his Assignment Colombo, Indian involvement in Sri Lankan affairs from 1983 to 1990, has been a matter of much cogitation in Indian and Lankan public opinion. He further says that the LTTE continues to have connections with Tamil Nadu. Its cadres are still finding support and territorial refuge in the Southern States. This has led to a certain convergence of interests in security matters between India and Sri Lanka. While remaining supportive of the legitimate ethno-linguistic and political aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils for greater delegation of power, autonomy and so on, India remains equally and firmly committed to the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. The Indian view is that whatever solution is found has to be within the framework of constitutional arrangements which preserves Sri Lanka's territorial unity and integrity, a logic which India applies to its own violent separatist movements in different parts of the country.

The importance of the Indian Ocean to India to keep and safeguard it as a peace zone, discouraging any foreign interference in this region and concern over the negative and adverse developments in Sri Lanka may be considered as the two main and primary causes which has prompted India to have a concerted defence arrangement with Sri Lanka. It was towards the end of the Second World War, that Indian authors and historians began to realise the importance of the Indian Ocean in the wake of the penetration of the Japanese Navy following the fall of Singapore. The eminent Indian author and political commentator, K.M. Panikkar highlighted the significance of the Indian Ocean for commercial activities, trade and security of India in his works- 'The Strategic Problems of the Indian Ocean and India and Indian Ocean,' published in 1944-1945. Regretting the "unfortunate tendency to overlook the Sea in the discussion of India's defence problems', Panikkar remarked: "India never lost her independence till she lost the command of the sea in the first decade of the 16th Century".

Advocating that the "Indian Ocean must remain truly Indian", Panikkar suggested the Albuquerque-style security of India by firmly holding distant places like Singapore, Mauritius, Aden and Socotra. He also emphasized broadening of the political hemisphere of the Indian State, so as to include Ceylon and Burma for defence purposes. However, credit must be given to Panikkar for having foreseen the possibility of the Indian Ocean becoming a fulcrum of power struggle in the post-war period. he wrote: "...... the possibility has to be visualized of America entering the Indian Ocean as a major naval power", and commented about the possibility of a "Russian Entry" as well which must be kept in mind. Cautioning against the Chinese thrust, he wrote that the "movement towards the South may, and in all probability will be reflected in the naval policy of resurgent China". Another popular Indian author and writer, K.B. Vaidya keenly supported the stand taken by Panikkar in his works - The Naval Defence of India and said "Even if we do not rule the waves of all the five oceans of the world, we must at least rule the waves of the Indian Ocean". He further emphasized that India must be supreme and undisputed power over the waters of the Indian Ocean. He pleaded for the creation of three self-sufficient and full-fledged fleets to be stationed at the Andamans in the Bay of Bengal, in Ceylon at Trincomalee and at Mauritius guarding the western approaches.

Vacuum theory

In keeping with declared policies of non-alignment, India categorically rejected the "vacuum" theory devised by the Untied States to establish herself firmly in the Indian Ocean with the help of her allies and some other Asian nations. The Indian stand on the so-called "vacuum" in the Indian Ocean was very clearly elaborated by Swaran Singh, the then Indian Defence Minister in the Lok Sabha on April 10, 1968. In his statement which deserves to be quoted at some length Swaran Singh said: "Our Government do not accept the validity of the propaganda that a vacuum will be created in the Indian Ocean on the British decision to withdraw from the areas of the Suez........It is not our intention firstly to accept the validity of his concept that any vacuum can be created. If any foreign power leaves any particular area, then it is for that area and for that territory to take adequate steps to safeguard their own safety and their own country. If they ask any other country for help, that could be considered, but when a country like the United Kingdom is withdrawing from overseas commitments, for country like India, which has never believed in that concept, to think in these terms, is absolutely inconsistent with our approach to this problem." He did not agree with the view that the British withdrawal from the Indian Ocean would affect India in any way. When this issue came up in the Rajya Sabha, in a later stage, he said that "the British presence was not in our interest".

Taking part in a debate of foreign affairs on April 8, 1970, the then External Affairs Minister, Dinesh Singh called the British Navy "a symbol of domination in Asia". He said he was surprised and in ways humiliated when my countrymen say 'what will happen if the British go away'. Without any hesitation or reservation, he welcomed British withdrawal from the Indian Ocean as a process of de-colonization and expressed faith in the capacity of the new Asian countries "to meet the challenges that come up with a measure of self respect, dignity and self-reliance without looking towards Washington or Moscow".

In keeping with these spirits and sentiments of Indian nationalism and patriotism, India has consistently opposed the strengthening of big-power naval presence in the Indian Ocean and also the establishment of foreign military base here. This approach found its embodiment in the Declaration of Universal Peace and Cooperation adopted at the Bandung Conference of Asian and African States in April 1955 and later in the UN General Assembly Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace adopted on December 16, 1971.

The land of the Buddha is not an enemy of Sri Lanka. India had been a very close and consistent friend of Sri Lanka, form the days we achieved independence from the British Masters. They came to our help in 1971. The Sirima-Shastri Agreement absorbed thousands of Indian Estate workers as citizens of India. As a result of the accord signed between India and Sri Lanka, thousands of Indian soldiers died on our soil to safeguard the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. Very recently, again they came forward to help thousands of flood victims in various parts of the country. The Free Trade Agreement signed with India and other bilateral agreements will certainly help Sri Lanka in the long run, as we have embarked upon a very large market. Further, according to the latest statistics released by the Ceylon Tourist Board, in the field of tourism also, India has emerged as the Main Resource Market.

In reference to Sri Lanka, the recent declaration signed by both Prime Ministers of India and Sri Lanka, says that 'Any interim arrangements should be an integral part of the final settlement and should be in the framework of the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka'. Further, India is supportive of democracy, pluralism and respect for individual rights in conflict resolution. I would like to end this essay by referring to a statement made by Dr. Subramanium Swamy, Ph.D.(Harvard) in his controversial book 'The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi-Unanswered Questions and Unasked queries'. He says that 'There are only three viable solutions to the ethnic problem in the island. The first solution is to adopt an Indian type federal constitution for a united sovereign Sri Lanka. This is the minimal demand of Tamils. The second is the partition of the island to create an independent sovereign State of Eelam. This however at present, would mean an LTTE-led government and on the face of it, unacceptable to us. The third is the merger of the island with India. This is the maximal demand of any Indian. Of the three solutions, the first is the least painful for Sri Lanka'.

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