MonitorsPublished on Nov 26, 2019
South Asia Weekly Report | Volume XII; Issue 47

Sri Lanka: Rajapaksas’ return and ‘Tamil Nadu factor’ in India relations

N Sathiya Moorthy The return of the Rajapaksas to power in Sri Lanka, the overnight landing of India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Colombo without loss of time and the decision of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to make New Delhi his maiden overseas destination like his predecessors, including his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa back in December 2005, all augur well for an early return of normalcy in the bilateral relations. The ties were strained towards the end of Mahinda’s second term, over perceptions of ‘shifting goal-posts’ on the ethnic front and more so over the ‘China factor’ – and drifted endlessly under the supposedly ‘India-friendly’ duo regime of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who did not move an inch on all of Indian concerns, but with greater sophistication and guile. Yet, there is yet another factor that got subsumed in the bilateral contacts, especially after Sri Lanka’s political administration got entangled in a mess of its own making. Though incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first VVIP to visit Sri Lanka on a bilateral after 25 long years and more, in March 2015, the pomp and colour attaching to the same lost the sheen once he was back home. Though bilateral strains, a legacy of the Rajapaksas, did ease as with a return of a sense of freedom on the domestic scene, it did not really progress on either front. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe left India and the rest of the world wondering over the inherent political and personality divides between the two leaders and their parties so much so that India looked the other way when ‘twin constitutional crises’ rocked the island-nation late last year. In this background, nothing much substantial can be expected from President Gota’s Delhi visit of 29 November, when at best the two leaders, in their maiden meeting after PM Modi came to power, could at best try to get a sense of each other’s positions on issues that have strained bilateral relations. Much of the western world would be waiting for reports from Delhi, as their leaders are yet to acknowledge Sri Lanka electing Gota as President. Whether they have done so, their greetings to the new leader was late in coming, when compared even to Wickremesinghe’s return as PM late last year, on the strength of a Supreme Court verdict. In context, PM Modi possibly became the first regional and global leader to greet Gota on his election. Other South Asian neighbours of Sri Lanka followed. Minister Jaishankar was also the first regional and global minister-level official to meet with President Gota, not that lesser officials from other countries had landed from their capitals.

Boosting reconciliation

Leaving aside the all-pervading ‘China factor’ and the prolonged trade negotiations, both legacies from the earlier Rajapaksa regime and unrepaired by the successor government, other issues of immediate, medium and long-term concerns are from the south Indian State of Tamil Nadu at one level and the Union of India at another. They comprise the unresolved Sri Lankan ethnic issue and the bilateral fishers’ dispute, in which the two Governments have got entangled owing to political necessity and constitutional compulsions. There are reasons. If not during the upcoming Gota visit, the Rajapaksas are not unlikely to brief the Modi leadership, which was not around when the former commenced post-war talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), about the meeting-points, diversions and distractions. According to MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, Minister Jaishankar had reiterated Indian position for Sri Lanka, now under the new leadership, to ‘boost reconciliation’ while in Colombo. Yet, after India’s own more recent experience with the UNHRC processes and more so of the OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) on the Kashmir issue even before the abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A, New Delhi may be more circumspect in the continued internationalisation of Sri Lanka’s ethnic issue, otherwise an ‘internal affair’. On the post-war ethnic front, Sri Lanka’s Tamil-centric TNA became increasingly reluctant to be seen in India’s company once the US jumped into the UNHRC bandwagon – and has remained so under PM Modi. Post-poll back home, TNA spokesperson M A Sumanthiran lost no time in declaring that they would not rule out the possibility of the party joining the government (at the Centre) on a ‘future date’. He did not indicate if it could be under the Gota regime, but the implication was that the Tamils needed a political solution to move forward. Not much of this position of the Sri Lankan Tamil’s most influential party finds traction in Tamil Nadu. Instead, peripheral pan-Tamil parties and groups in the State are tuned to Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora elsewhere, and have taken tougher anti-Rajapaksa position, as much post-poll as during the run-up. Not that they have had any hopes of a Sajith-led government in Colombo signing on the dotted line, if any. However, the mainline ruling AIADMK and parent-rival DMK have maintained stoic silence on reacting to the Sri Lanka polls and results, possibly leaving it to the TNA as the ‘sole representative’ of their community. So are the Congress Opposition at the national-level and the two communist parties are circumspect. The ruling BJP at the Centre, aspiring to capture TN voter imagination in time for the 2021 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, has to be circumspect, with the party leadership at the Centre, prioritising its domestic /neighbourhood priorities accordingly. The State BJP’s Tamil TV talk-show ‘experts’, who are seen and heard all across Sri Lanka, cannot project their personal views at the heat of the moment, as the Indian Government view, as they did ahead of the Elections-2014 that brought Modi to power

Resolving fishers’ issue

Much has been achieved on the ground on the other contentious issue concerning Tamil Nadu, but not many inside the State and country, and more so across the Palk Strait, seem to have noticed it. At the instance of a persistent Centre, the AIADMK State Government, first under late Jayalalithaa and now under Edappadi K Palaniswami, has moved, over the last nearly 10 years, to promote ‘deep-sea fishing’ as an alternative for Rameswaram fishers in particular having to cross into Sri Lankan waters, in search of a livelihood. Truth be acknowledged, much progress was made when Mahinda Rajapaksa was President – but only after a series of episodes in which Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel were suspected to have fired at Indian fishers, killing some at times, and also confiscating their boats and catch. It was during a 2008 New Delhi visit of then Sri Lankan Presidential Special Advisor (and brother) Basil Rajapaksa that the two nations struck a deal on SLN ‘not firing’ at Indian fishers. This meant that the SLN would arrest them, hand them over to the local police for the latter to proceed with it in legal terms, before Sri Lankan courts. Despite what Sri Lanka’s Tamil fishers and the officialdom and Navy may believe or want to enforce, conversion from TN counterparts’ destructive bottom-trawling with banned nets to more profitable deep-sea fishing, which involves high investments, however, is going to take time, whatever the kind of help that the governments in India can extend. It is a matter of psyche for Rameswaram’s fishers to learn to live out at the seas for a week to a month at a time. Bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and India require a positive and official approach, backed wholly by the political leaderships on either side. President Gota Rajapaksa might have begun well on the TN front by naming Tamil leader Douglas Devananda, a Tamil from the Northern Province, from across the Palk Strait, as his Fisheries Minister in what looks like an interim Cabinet, pending early parliamentary polls, way ahead of the August 2020 deadline. As a Minister under the previous Rajapaksa regime, Devananda had threatened to storm the seas if TN fishers resorted to ‘poaching’. It was, however, in response to the more popular TNA had taken up the Northern and Easters Tamil fishers’ issue in this context, for the first time ever. Two of TNA’s political resolutions in a matter of months also urged the Colombo government to stop ‘poaching’. Party parliamentarian Sumanthiran even tabled a resolution and later a draft bill in this regard, fixing steeper penalties for ‘poachers’. The Wickremesinghe Government adapted it as an official bill with changes, and Parliament passed it unanimously in 2017. Yet, it is anybody’s guess if President Gota’s induction of a Tamil as Fisheries Minister, the first one manning the portfolio possibly, is a positive message to India, or a defiance of sorts. A criminal case against Devananda is pending before a Chennai court, in regard to a shooting-incident, dating back to the eighties. Devananda is thus unwelcome in Tamil Nadu. The only time when he visited New Delhi, along with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the critics of the Rajapaksas and the Sri Lankan State in Tamil Nadu sought to revive the pending case, which was heard, but adjourned all over again.  

India: Dissecting the many layers of ‘Ayodhya verdict’

Ambar Kumar Ghosh With the recent landmark judgment of the Supreme Court on the protracted ‘Ram Temple-Babri Masjid’ dispute at Ayodhya, the prolonged contestation over over-lapping claims over sites of worship appears to coming towards a much-needed closure. The confrontation over the disputed site of Ayodhya between the Hindus, who constitutes the majority religious group in the country and Muslims, who are the largest minority community, which started long years back reached its most volatile point when a Hindu mob demolished the Babri Masjid at on 6 December 1992, claiming it to be the birth place of Lord Ram. In 2010, the Allahabad High Court ruled that the land be distributed between the three claimants -- two Hindu parties, namely, Ram Lalla (or the deity Himself) and Nirmohi Akhra as well as to the Muslim party, Sunni Wakq Board.  However, in a unanimous verdict, the five-member Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the outgoing Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi,  held that the entire disputed land of 2.77 acres is to be handed over to the Hindus to build a Ram temple and the Muslim party be given five acres of land elsewhere in Ayodhya to build a mosque. While this historic decision of the Supreme Court is largely hailed as a welcome step, the nature of the verdict and the logic that has been deployed has invited certain apprehensions as well. In order to ensure an ecumenical understanding of the issue, both the areas of apprehension regarding the dispute and the arguments being posed to negate such apprehensions must be comprehended in its entirety.

Points of contention

One of the most formidable concerns regarding the verdict arises from the contention that probably the verdict has prioritised communal harmony or religious beliefs over the rule of law. Such a concern arises from an apparent contradiction in the verdict. On one hand, the apex court has condemned the demolition of the mosque, but on the other, it has also granted the entire site to the Hindu party for building a temple. This ambiguous normative positioning of the verdict gives rise to the apprehension that it might embolden fundamentalist majoritarian forces in the country,  seriously impeding the secular fabric of the nation’s constitutional discourse. Moreover, the court’s reliance on the findings of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to trace the quantum and historicity of religious assertion by either party to the legal dispute also leaves room for avoidable opacity – or, so it seems. A careful reading of the ruling could also point to ambivalence that the court didn’t explicitly recognise any evidence of demolition of a temple below the mosque as it only vaguely states the presence of some “traces of non-Islamic ancient architecture”. Above all, the verdict renders the possibility of raking up such historical allegations of wrong-doing to make fresh legal claims as a legitimate practice of imposing majoritarian suzerainty, over such other religious sites elsewhere in the country.

Panacea of hope

However, there is an obverse side of the argument, which attempts to mitigate such concerns. First, it has to be borne in mind that the dispute lingered on the society and body politic of the country for the last several decades, causing widespread political polarisation and violence. So, a compromising closure to this problem which had taken obnoxious proportions and has the propensity of further spreading its destabilising potential in the future was necessary to prevent further communal conflagration and instability. Moreover, the reparative intent of the verdict which gave five acres of land to the Muslim party to build a mosque and the court’s vehement condemnation of the barbaric acts of transgression into and demolition of the Babri Masjid, perhaps shows that the apex court has made an attempt to reinforce the secular character of the Indian state which genuinely intends to protect the interest of the minorities and would speak on their behalf in indignant moments of crisis. As far as the deviations and exceptions  that the verdict  brings with it, the ruling clearly states that the 1991 Act on the Places of Worship would be effectively implemented in any of such contested claims on religious sites, if arises in the future. So, any apprehension that the court ruling might encourage such fresh claims on religious or historical sites on the basis of faith or unsubstantiated antecedents might be unlikely as of now.

Political lesson

However, the dissection and closer analysis of every aspect of the verdict is necessary to not only assess the secular nature of a diverse democratic polity like India but also to draw appropriate lessons from history to understand that how sensitive contentious issues are to be confronted and dealt with in a multicultural societal setup. Above all, the instability and volatility that the Ayodhya dispute inflicted upon the societal landscape of India must always be a vivid reminder and a matter of caution for the entire political dispensation of India that it is in India’s interest to not conflate emotive issues of faith with the political indispensability of electoral politics, especially in a society that is thriving with its multi-cultural existence.

Country Reports

Afghanistan

Prisoner-exchange

In a prisoner swap aimed at potentially facilitating a ceasefire or some semblance of peace in Afghanistan, the Taliban freed the two professors they had held hostage since August 2016, in exchange for the release of three senior commanders of the Haqqani Network, which is closely allied to the Taliban. The three militants, namely, Anas Haqqani, Mali Khan and Hafiz Rashid, have been flown to Qatar since, and kept under house arrest on the request of the US. The Taliban called the exchange a “confidence building measure” that could help rekindle peace talks.

‘No’ to pending poll results

The Council of Presidential Candidates of Afghanistan has stated that it will not accept election results based on fraud and inconsistency. Calling the counting of non-biometric votes unacceptable, the candidates have declared that they no longer have confidence in the processes of the Independent Election Commission (IEC). Officials of the IEC have refuted all such accusations, and have maintained that they are delivering their duties as per the law. The IEC has completed the votes recounting process in 17 provinces, with 9 more to go, to be followed by the announcement of primary results.

Military operations in Kunduz

As stated by the Afghan Ministry of Defence (MoD), Afghan security forces launched a large scale clearing operation named ‘Pamir 110’ in the northern province of Kunduz on Thursday, 21 November, to weaken militant foothold in the outskirts of Kunduz city. The afghan forces zeroed in on the city from all sides the night before and began the operation with utmost levels of preparedness. Further, the MoD has stated that similar operations have been launched in other provinces such as Badakhshan, Takhar and Baghlan.

Bangladesh

PM warns ‘offenders’

Addressing a conference of the ruling Awami League’s youth wing, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has declared that the continuing raids and drives against corruption, militancy and drugs, would continue, and declared that she would not spare anyone, no matter who the offender is. “I won’t spare anyone, no matter who they are. I won’t have any sympathy for them because I work hard day and night for the people of the country,” she said adding that young generation should be groomed with the spirit of dedication and the wellbeing of the country and its people.

Bhutan

FM begins India visit

Bhutan’s Foreign Minister, Tandi Dorji arrived on 17 November in New Delhi on a 5-day state visit. The minister held meetings with his Indian counterpart, Dr. S. Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale. He is set to visit Bodh Gaya and Kolkata in Eastern India before leaving for Bhutan on 23 November.

Breakthrough likely

The much-delayed 600 MW Kholongchu project might see the two sides, India and Bhutan agreeing to sign the vital Concession Agreement within the next few months which could be by the end of the year or early next year. The project had been stalled due to the Cross Border Trade of Electricity’ (CBTE) guidelines issued in 5 December 2016 by India’s Ministry of Power whose certain provisions violated the larger Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) on JVs between Bhutan and India.

Reserve assets up

Bhutan’s external assets, as of this June, hit USD$ 1.2bn, which is an increase of 16 per cent compared to that of December 2018. However, with increasing debt, the country’s Net International Investment Position (NIIP) slipped a further USD$ 170 million during the same period, the Royal Monitory Authority’s (RMA) monthly statistical bulletin mentioned.

India

Fatnavis back as CM

In a surprise turn of events, Maharashtra Governor Koshiyari sworn in previous  BJP Chief Minister Fatnavis to the post, and ‘rebel’ NCP House leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy at a near-secret ceremony on Saturday, after revoking the President’s Rule before crack of dawn, to facilitate the process.  The developments, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi using special powers to recommend the withdrawal of the President’s Rule without a Cabinet resolution, occurred hours after the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Congress and the Shiv Sena, estranged from the BJP alliance, announced their decision to approach the Governor to make Sena boss Uddhav Thackeray as the CM. The three parties have since moved the Supreme Court, which with a week-end Sunday hearing, is since seized of the process.

NRC now for the nation?

Union Home Minister Amit Shah once again asserted that the process of drafting a National Register of Citizen, which was recently concluded in Assam, will be implemented in all parts of the country. But the Home Minister assured that the process of drafting the NRC would be free from any religious discrimination of the people. Amit Shah also informed the the Parliament that the Citizenship Amendment Bill will soon be introduced in the House for consideration.

Maldives

Nasheed re-elected

In inner-party elections whose results were very much predictable, Parliament Speaker and former President Mohammed Nasheed has been re-elected the president of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). President’s Office Minister Mohammed Shifaz was similarly re-elected MDP vice-president, against a lone contender. With no other candidate in the field, Nasheed got 23,000-plus votes down from 37,000-plus in the earlier re-election in 2014. Eyebrows were caused to be raised when reports said that only 27 percent of a very high number of 67,000-plus registered voters turned up, with the Opposition PPM-NPC of former President Abdulla Yameen declaring that grassroots-level cadres were unhappy with the functioning of their party government of President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih.

Myanmar

Suu Kyi to head ICJ defence

State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will lead a team of prominent lawyers to defend Myanmar’s “national interests” before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The announcement came after Gambia filed a case at the United Nations’ highest court on 11 November accusing Myanmar of genocide in its campaign against Rakhine State’s Muslim minority, and asking the ICJ to urgently order measures “to stop Myanmar’s genocidal conduct immediately”.

Plea over seized land

Over 900 farmers submitted a petition to Yangon Region government on 20 November over lands in Yangon Region, Dagon Myothit (Seikkan) Township, East Dagon Township and South Dagon Township acquired by the government. The region government transferred the lands to 16 private companies beginning 2014 for the implementation of model community farming project and agricultural production through land use rights Form 7 but these works have been unsuccessful and the lands reportedly still remain as vacant yet virgin.

Nepal

Coalition in trouble

The government of Nepal is based on a major coalition, of which the Samajwadi Party Nepal (SPN) is an integral part. The recent reshuffle in the cabinet by Prime Minister K. P Sharma Oli has been disregarded by SPN in many ways. It was alleged by them that no consultation is ever made by the PM before any such decision, thereby going against the essence of coalition. Moreover, SPN Chairman, Upendra Yadav, has been shifted to the Law Ministry without much prior information provided to either him or the party. This scenario is quite a hint to the upcoming danger to coalition politics in Nepal.

Power sale to Bangladesh

Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has been finalised between Nepal and Bangladesh with regard to the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project. Around 500 MW of power will be supplied from the 900 MW project. This was also showcased as an idea of bringing about the concept of sharing resources and prioritizing each other’s SAARC membership. This is a good starting point for Nepal to look eastward.

Pakistan

‘Positive development’

During a recent telephonic conversation between US President Donald Trump and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the latter while discussing bilateral and regional issues termed the release of two Western prisoners by the Afghan Taliban as a “positive development.” President Trump duly thanked Prime Minister Khan for Pakistan’s efforts in facilitating this outcome. According to Khan such endeavours by Pakistan are a manifestation of its commitment towards a revival of the stalled Afghan peace process.

Unhealthy air quality in Lahore

Recently the Amnesty International issued an “urgent action warning” regarding the hazardous smog that is engulfing Lahore stating that every resident is at risk from the poor air quality. The effort is aimed at mobilising supporters from around the world to campaign on behalf of the population of Lahore in seeking relief from the authorities. Lately Lahore topped the list of the world’s most polluted cities and the air quality was recorded by Air Visual to be 385.

Sri Lanka

Gota is new President

In what turned out to be a nail-biting election despite the unfocussed and colourless campaign, Opposition SLPP candidate and war-time Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was elected the nation’s seventh Executive President, defeating his ruling UNP contender, Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa by a comfortable 52-42 percent vote-share lead, despite the nation’s minority ethnicities voting the latter in a big way, as expected and promised, pre-poll. President Gota has since appointed a compact 15-member interim Cabinet, ahead of early parliamentary polls, with party boss, elder brother and war-time President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which included a third of the four-brother clan, former Parliament Speaker, Chamal Rajapaksa, too. The SLPP’s left ally, Dinesh Gunawardene has been named to the all-important Foreign Minister, when the Rajapaksa leadership is expected to get increasingly entangled with the international community on war-crimes and the rest. At the invitation of the neighbouring India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, delivered by External Affairs Minister S Jaishanker a day after he took over, President Gota has made New Delhi his first overseas destination, like all his predecessors in recent times.

Bibliography

Afghanistan

Opinion Pieces

Hujatullah Zia, “Harsh Rhetoric and Misjudgement Self-Destructive”, Daily Outlook Afghanistan, 20 November 2019 Mohammed ZahirAkbari, “Education is the most powerful weapon to change Afghanistan”, Daily Outlook Afghanistan, 19 November 2019

Editorials

Afghanistan Times, “Will this work?”, 21 November 2019

Bangladesh

Opinion Pieces

Abhak Hussain, “From the frying pan into Saudi Arabia”, Dhaka Tribune, 24 November 2019 Badiuzzaman Bay, “Time to change our anti-Hijra bias”, The Daily Star, 21 November 2019

Editorials

Dhaka Tribune, “In honour of our armed forces”, 21 November 2019

Bhutan

Editorials

The Bhutanese, “The people”, 16 November 2019 Kuensel, “Going electric short-charged”, 16 November 2019

India

Opinion Pieces

Krishna Kumar, “The primary teacher who uses the child’s language has a great advantage”, The Indian Express, 21 November 2019 JS Sandhu, “Chief of Defence Staff should play the role of the primary military adviser”, The Indian Express, 21 November 2019 Parnal Chirmuley, “JNU fee hike will lead to 40% of our students being completely abandoned by the education systemThe Indian Express, 21 November 2019 Valerian Rodrigues, “The new tenor in Maharashtra’s politics”, The Hindu, 21 November 2019 Jean Dreze, “The mother of non-issues: on maternity entitlement”, The Hindu, 19 November 2019 Manmohan Singh, “The fountainhead of India’s economic malaise”, The Hindu, 18 November 2019

Editorials

The Hindu, “Senseless: On Nationwide NRC”, 21 November 2019 The Hindu, “An opening: On Telangana transport worker strike”, 21 November 2019 The Indian Express, “Bully on campus”, 21 November 2019 The Indian Express, “Tamil Teaser” 21 November 2019 The Indian Express, “For love of money”, 20 November 2019 The Hindu, “House not in order: On detention of elected representatives”, 20 November 2019 The Hindu, “Quality on tap: On report of Ministry of Consumer Affairs”, 18 November 2019

Maldives

Opinion Pieces

Rae Munavvar, “Men and masculinity in Maldives”, The Edition, 20 November 2019

Myanmar

Opinion Pieces

Sean Bain, “How International Initiatives Can Support Peace and Justice in Myanmar”, The Irrawaddy, 21 November 2019 Nan Lwin, “Potential Environmental and Social Impacts of Chinese Mega-Projects in Myanmar Raise Concerns”, The Irrawaddy, 19 November 2019 Lee Sang-hwa, “Busan Summit to Reinforce Partnership Between the ROK and ASEAN”, The Irrawaddy, 18 November 2019

Editorials

The Irrawaddy, “Leave Myanmar in Peace”, 15 November 2019

Nepal

Opinion Pieces

Mohan Guragain, “Sorting electricity”, The Kathmandu Post, 22 November 2019 Mohan Nepali, “Public value of journalism”, Republica, 21 November 2019 Pramod Mishra, “An experiment in identity-based federalism”, The Kathmandu Post, 21 November 2019

Editorials

The Himalayan Times, “Swing into action”, 22 November 2019 The Kathmandu Post “Building view towers does not equate to development”, 20 November 2019

Pakistan

Opinion Pieces

Sakib Sherani, “Pakistan’s reform plans”, Dawn, 22 November 2019 Syed Mohammad Ali, “The tyranny of the majority”, The Express Tribune, 22 November 2019

Editorials

Dawn, “CJ’s rejoinder”, 22 November 2019 The Express Tribune, “India’s NRC”, 22 November 2019

Sri Lanka

Opinion Pieces

Rajeewa Jayaweera, “GotaR prevails against all the odds”, The Island, 24 November 2019 Rajan Philip, “President Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Worst fears and best expectations”, The Island, 24 November 2019 N Sathiiya Moorthy, “Return of the Rajas”, Asian Age, 24 November 2019 Lucien Rajakarunanayake, “National Anthem: A keystone in Sinhala politics”, The Island, 23 November 2019 D B S Jeyaraj, “President Gotabaya spearheads the return of Ruhunu Rajapaksas”, Daily Mirror Online, 23 November 2019 Rev Fr Vimal Tirimanna, “The Presidential Election 2019 in retrospect”, The Island, 22 November 2019 M S M Ayub, “New President: What is in store for minorities?”, Daily Mirror Online, 22 November 2019 Ameen Izzadeen, “Foreign policy challenges for new Rajapaksa Govt”, Daily Mirror Online, 22 November 2019 “N Sathiya Moorthy, “Bury the past, Mr President Gota”, Ceylon Today, 20 Novmber 2019 Jehan Perera, “The challenge to reunify divided polity”, The Island, 19 November 2019 N Sathiya Moorthy, “Long live the President!”, Ceylon Today, 19 November 2019 N Sathiya Moorthy, “How the Rajapaksa brothers scripted a memorable win”, www.rediff.com, 18 November 2019 N Sathiya Moorthy, “Sri Lanka elections: The Delhi-Colombo trajectory”, www.orfonline.org, 18 November 2019 N Sathiya Moorthy, “Who lost the most, Sajith or the TNA?”, Colombo Gazette, 17 November 2019

Contributors

Afghanistan: Shubhangi Pandey Bangladesh: Joyeeta Bhattacharjee Bhutan: Mihir Bhonsale India: Ambar Kumar Ghosh Maldives & Sri Lanka: N Sathiya Moorthy Myanmar: Sreeparna Banerjee Nepal: Sohini Nayak Pakistan: Sohini Bose
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