Poreg view: Government of India acting through the minister of state for defence M M Pallamraju has nipped in the bud an unseemly controversy in the making, which if allowed unchecked could have had a bearing on India’s relations with Sri Lanka. Though very old and time tested the ties between the two countries separated by the narrow Palk Straits are not in pink of health for a variety of reasons particularly following the Indian vote against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in March.
Both countries can afford the luxury of doing away with another issue that is in the making.
Ms. Jayalalithaa also reminded the Prime Minister of the objections she had raised in an her earlier letter on July 16, ‘in no unclear terms, the strong views of her government on imparting training to defence personnel belonging to Sri Lanka’
Minister Pallamraju rejected her views outright. “Sri Lanka is a friendly foreign country and the training will go on”, he told reporters in New Delhi. He added that sometimes there are objections raised by state governments “which we have to take into consideration”.
This is not the first time objections were raised by TN politicians to training to SL military personnel. In July, after opposition from them, notably Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, nine personnel belonging to the Sri Lankan Air Force, who were undergoing technical training at the Air Force Station in Tambaram, Tamilnadu, were relocated to the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Karnataka capital, Bangalore”
The Defence Secretary-level talks held in December 2010 are in a way the basis for enlarged military-to-military cooperation. India has hiked seats for SL personnel in IAF training institutions. India staged naval exercises with SL Navy off Trincomalee. It is also building two off-shore patrol vessels for Sri Lanka.
Significantly, the India-Sri Lanka talks at the Defence Secretary level are structured and institutionalized and take place at regular intervals to articulate concerns and to consider security issues in the region.
The TN leaders’ objections are against the backdrop of tough time Indian fishermen at the hands of Sri Lankan navy. Other irritant, according to them, is the continued procrastination of Sri Lankan leadership on the political package for the Jaffna Tamilians.
Tamilnadu, particularly southern region keeps hearing first hand accounts of events in the Tamil majority North of Sri Lanka. There are several hundred thousand ethnic Lanka Tamils housed in the refugee camps, who are also in touch with their homeland. Many of these refugees are reluctant to go back saying that the situation in Jaffna is far from safe for their return. These inputs shape the Sri Lanka view of Tamilnadu politicians.
Delhi factors in the states’ concerns on any issue as Minister Pallam Raju said but this it can do so not beyond a point. As the National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, said after his recent visit to Colombo, India and Sri Lanka enjoy ‘a multifaceted and dynamic relationship’. The ties should not be made hostage to any particular issue more so when the two countries have excellent channels of communication for discussing maritime cooperation and other security related issues besides political deal for Northern Sri Lanka Tamils.
There is also the time tested South-South cooperation. It is the duty of every developing nation to help out fellow developing nations in whatever way possible. Duty, like rights, has a corresponding limitation, of course. Well, Lakshman Rekha is inherent in every walk of life and it must be respected.
