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| Saturday, 1 May 2004 |
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'Continuity in India-Sri Lanka ties' By Amit Baruah "The best thing that has happened in Sri Lankan politics is the convergence of wishes and intentions on the part of all parties that relations with India should be maintained at a special level of excellence."
IT IS his third term as Foreign Minister. Lakshman Kadirgamar, the articulate face of the new Sri Lankan Government, stopped over in New Delhi for talks with the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, on his way back to Colombo after attending an Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) meeting in Shanghai. Calling for an Indian role in the soon-to-be-resumed peace process, with the consent of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. Kadirgamar told The Hindu in an interview that he hoped to be back here after a new Government took over in May. In Shanghai, Mr. Kadirgamar met with the Chinese Vice-President, Qing Hong, who was accompanied by State Councillor, Tang Jiaxuan, the Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing, and party politburo member, Qian Qichen. The Foreign Minister said he would be in Washington on May 12 for a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and other members of the Bush Administration. Excerpts from the interview: Question: What are the objectives of your current visit to India? Answer: I went to China in the last two days for the 60th anniversary celebrations of the founding of ESCAP. I was very keen to pay a bilateral visit, however short it may be, to India either on my way to China or on my way back from China ... I know it is campaign time here and the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, was very kind to interrupt his campaigning and come to see me for a few hours. So, it is, I would say, symbolic, and a manifestation of continuity in our relationship with India ... The best thing that has happened in Sri Lankan politics is the convergence of wishes and intentions on the part of all parties that our relations with India should be maintained at a special level of excellence. What role do you think India can play at the current juncture of the peace process? ... For some time, many people and parties in Sri Lanka, across the political spectrum, have been saying that India must play some role ... Playing a role is rather a broad way of expressing this feeling. We now have to begin to talk with India with the consent of the LTTE - that is very important - because without the consent of the LTTE which, after all, is the principal negotiating partner of any Sri Lankan Government that has to address this problem, you can't just bring in third parties like that ... Even the LTTE has from time to time said that India must have a role. So, the question of what the role should be is a matter for discussion. And, certainly, it has to be a discussion with the LTTE also. There is no question of the [Sri Lankan] Government inviting India unilaterally to play an undefined role. I think we have reached a point, and my own personal feeling is that the Indian Government, whether it be this Government or any other Government, is receptive to the idea, conceptually, of playing a role. The reconstruction of the [Sri Lankan] North and the East is becoming the paramount consideration in the conduct of the peace process. By that I do not mean that core issues must be forgotten forever. As you know, our Government has always been very keen that substantive negotiations should take place on the so-called core issues. The LTTE has shown some reluctance to deal with that matter in the same up-front way in which we would like it to be dealt with. But, the bottom-line ... the basis of agreement without any doubt is that rehabilitation and reconstruction must be addressed ... right up-front. India could play a role in this? That is the point at which it would be easiest, least complicated for India to enter the scene. That is the way I visualise it; that is a skeletal thought at the moment. I have a feeling that we can build on that. The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has already invited the Norwegians to resume their role in the peace process. Have you also had any contacts with the LTTE? Yes ... the peace process has been stalled for almost a year now ... so, when we start, it will be a cold start. That means the Norwegians have to be contacted again ... because you will recall that shortly after the President took over the Ministry of Defence on November 4, 2003, the Norwegians made a statement to the effect that there was now a lack of clarity in the Governmental structure in Sri Lanka. They virtually indicated that they were withdrawing, at least, for a while. I think the Norwegians realised, as the months went by, that that was not a particularly good position to have taken. It seems clear that if an invitation is extended to them to resume a role in the peace process that they would accept it. Accordingly, the President spoke to the Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo, she spoke to the Norwegian Prime Minister on April 22 and the next step is that the Norwegian Deputy Minister, who has been handling this matter, is coming to Sri Lanka on May 2, and Mr. [Erik] Solheim and others are coming in the middle of May. The Norwegian Foreign Minister is also likely to come. So, you will see, in the month of May, these various developments going on. We anticipate that the LTTE will, within a few days, perhaps, formally indicate its willingness to resume talking. Since it's a cold start, there will have to be a couple of rounds of discussion about modalities, talks about talks, and the structure of the talks ... because of this long break. The LTTE has been making it clear that their dominant concern is the interim administration. That, I believe, reflects their view that since rehabilitation and reconstruction is the predominant concern of the people of the North and the East, with which we also agree ... in the absence of some kind of mechanism to handle the disbursement of funds and get these projects going it will not be possible to start any work on the reconstruction side. There is a convergence of certain ideas and approaches. It is still a little too early, as of today, to say how all this is going to work out. The principal point is that there will be a resumption of contact officially. Back channels have been in operation for some time. Do you think the Karuna factor (the abortive revolt by the LTTE's one time eastern commander in March) might be an impediment to beginning negotiations with the LTTE?. I think it's a little difficult to say because the Karuna situation is somewhat confused. I don't think anybody really knows with certainty the importance of this factor. The LTTE has said that Karuna must be found, eliminated ... At the moment, I think the situation is a little fluid. We will have to wait and see how they [the Tigers] perceive this Karuna factor ... whether they perceive this as an enormously difficult problem in the way of resuming talks or whether it's a kind of side issue to be dealt with, but not to be allowed to become an obstacle. These are attitudinal problems that will only be sorted out after they surface. There is a sizable presence of LTTE-backed candidates in the Sri Lankan Parliament as well as Sinhala hardliners. How do you see that impacting on the politics of Sri Lanka? This is a very, very interesting and problematic situation for Sri Lanka. The convergence of these forces is taking place for the first time in our long parliamentary history. It is for the first time that a party of monks has emerged formally ... in the last Parliament we had one monk ... Equally, for the first time, an LTTE-sponsored or an LTTE proxy party, has such a large bloc of [22] seats. That has never happened before ... How the TNA [Tamil National Alliance] is going to use this voting strength from now on is problematic. The obvious way of looking at it is that they will use it to exercise leverage on the Government of the day and, indeed, on the Opposition in relation to what is to them probably the sole issue that concerns them - the ethnic question. That undoubtedly, in terms of parliamentary politics, introduces a whole new dimension because votes ... can be used in other directions as well - not merely on the ethnic question. It can be used for leverage purposes in the ordinary working life of Parliament. I would say it's too early to make an assessment ... the fact that they voted with the Opposition ... on the Speakership is not conclusive of the way in which they will handle their block from now on. We will have to see, for instance, what their attitude is going to be after [peace] talks start. It is a new and complicating factor in our politics that these forces have emerged. One might also mention the JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna). The JVP has done enormously well ... now they have 39 seats ... so there are clear messages coming from there also. (Courtsey The Hindu) |
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