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New Delhi can lend a helping hand as a responsible neighbour, but Sri Lanka’s future rests on its political establishment responding adequately to the people’s aspirations
The UPA's policy failures on Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have generated much bemoaning in Delhi's national security establishment about the breakdown of the rules of the republic that made the conduct of foreign policy the sole responsibility of the Centre. A closer look reveals that it is not the states that are exercising a veto over foreign policy decisions.
Despite visible concerns, the Sri Lankan government has given the green light to commence the Colombo Port City project.
While bilateral political issues seem to have been kept under control through the post-war decade in Sri Lanka; at another level, it is a livelihood i
Domestic politics and China’s influence will play a major role in hampering the growth of CSC
घरेलू राजनीति और चीन का प्रभाव, सीएससी के विकास में बाधा ड
India’s sees subregional engagement, like the expanding Colombo Security Conclave, as critical for securing its strategic interests.
Renewed proximity with India can help Sri Lanka reduce its dependence on foreign reserves, while giving Delhi the leverage to push for benefits
Sri Lanka’s Parliament postponed discussion of a bill regarding Colombo Port City, but it is expected to pass.
President Wickremesinghe seems to have succeeded in conveying Sri Lanka's best intentions for India during his visit.
Elections will not be won or lost because of events in Sri Lanka, but Sri Lanka could be lost because of our electoral politics. Our PM's absence in Colombo at this juncture is akin to a public snub to Sri Lanka and the vacuum that we create and show little intention or urgency to fill, can only be filled by one country - China.
Even while Sri Lanka doesn't figure as a major asset to India, New Delhi is reluctant to lose it entirely to China.
As a new government led by Maithripala Sirisena takes charge in Colombo, New Delhi has a valuable opportunity to arrest the drift in bilateral relations over the last few years. The Modi government, less constrained internally than the UPA government, is in a good position to rebuild the partnership with Sri Lanka that occupies a vital position on India's maritime frontiers to the south.
Expecting India to bail Sri Lanka out every time there is a crisis may work for some time, but it's a recipe for disaster.
The two countries are holding talks for India to reschedule Sri Lanka’s $900 million India debt.
July 7, 2004, Wednesday, witnessed the first suicide attack in Sri Lanka since the signing of the Cease Fire Accord (CFA) between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
With the support of the CSC, Australia can enhance its engagement with the Northeast Indian Ocean region
As the Indo-Pacific region grows in prominence, all the members of the CSC, which are democracies, will continue to play their cards based on domestic and external benefits.
The Tamil National Alliance, heading an elected Government in Sri Lanka's Northern Province, have shocked well-wishers in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, with its tough stand on the fishers' issue between Colombo and Chennai.
For Sri Lanka, big ticket foreign investment matters right now more than at any time in the post-Independence era.
A lot will depend on how the TNA and the NPC proceed during the upcoming fishers' talks in Colombo. For any fishers-negotiated solution to be effective, it has to have the cooperation of the Tamil Nadu and Northern Province Governments across the Palk Straits.
China, owning reclaimed land at Colombo, is a worrying development in the Indian Ocean Region.
The expansion of PLA Navy submarine activity in South Asia is quite in keeping with a powerful navy’s need to familiarise itself with alien operating conditions.
Exploring the relevance, limitations, and future challenges of the 'Colombo Security Conclave' (CSC) as a security net.
Sri Lanka¿s new Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, has indicated the importance, and relevance of India to the Sri Lankan context, by visiting New Delhi within days of his being sworn in. His visit to India even before the conclusion of the Indian electoral exercise was testimony to the mood in Colombo for increasing New Delhi¿s role and involvement in the Sri Lanka peace process.
With India voting in favour of the anti-Sri Lanka resolution at the UN Human Rights Council, Delhi finds itself in a precarious position in Colombo vis-à-vis Beijing. Worse, it's likely to make the lives of Tamils more difficult in the island nation.
After the attacks, which killed more than 250 people, making it one of the most successful pro-ISIS attacks anywhere, information was leaked out to the Indian press that New Delhi shared intelligence with Colombo of an impending attack of similar nature.
Once again, the pending visit of a Chinese research vessel to Sri Lanka has touched off Indian objections.
While taking a leading role within various regional intelligence-sharing mechanisms, India must be wary of the counterintelligence risks that are pres
What Colombo and Beijing are telling Delhi is that Chinese naval presence in Sri Lanka is now routine and India should get used to it. Delhi quite clearly will find it hard to digest. But, if Delhi wants to limit or reverse Colombo's strategic tilt towards China, it should start with a comprehensive review of its policy towards Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka should understand the nuances of diplomatic existence, survival and self-assertion, appreciate them where possible, accept them where needed. India and others may be blamed for Sri Lanka losing the vote but it should rather shake up Colombo to look into what had gone wrong with its foreign policy strategy, instead.
This is an edited version of the talk given by Prof. Sudharshan Seneviratne, a well known historian and archaeologist from Sri Lanka, at ORF on April 9, 2012. Prof Seneviratne, currently Professor of Archaeology at the University of Peradeniya, Colombo, has carried out pioneering research in the field of archaeology and is a widely respected speaker on the subject.
China has used Colombo’s compulsion to deliver a strong message to India and the world—regardless of its assistance, Beijing still holds significa
Though belatedly, Norway, which brokered a Ceasefire Agreement between Colombo and LTTE in 2002, clarified that it never supported the creation of a separate Tamil Eelam contrary to popular belief. Majority of Sri Lankans, including President Rajapaksa, accused Norway of being pro-LTTE.
In a surprising statement, the military spokesman of Sri Lanka Keheliya Rambukwella claimed that Al Qaeda and those involved in the bombing of Marriot Hotel in Islamabad were trained by LTTE. The technique was similar to the one used by the Tamil group way back in 1996 when a truck loaded with a bomb exploded near Colombo's Central Bank killing 91 people.
Sri Lanka celebrated Victory Day at Galle Face Green in capital Colombo on June 3 to mark its victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, praised the soldiers for their sustained efforts in wiping out the Tigers.
The election of a new government in Colombo provides New Delhi a great opportunity to reset its relations with Sri Lanka. Both countries need to set aside the contentious past and see how they can construct a 21st century relationship based on economic ties and the awareness of the need to understand each other's security concerns.
New Delhi must stop viewing its foreign relations with Colombo from the Chennai prism alone just as it was a mistake to view our relations with Bangladesh through Kolkata's priorities. Tamil aspirations in Sri Lanka are important but there are other abiding interests too.
Whether or not the Sri Lankan Army Chief, Lt-Gen Sarath Fonseka, was the intended target of the suicide-attack on the Army Headquarters in Colombo on Tuesday, 25 April 2006, the LTTE may have won the ¿psychological war¿, one more time. The death of 10 persons
