• UGI USER
  • Sep 15, 2023
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India-Sri Lanka Ties.

Relevance

  • GS paper 2: India and its Neighborhood- Relations, Bilateral, Regional, and Global Groupings, and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
  • Tags: #Indo-Sri Lankan ties,#GS Paper 2.

Why in the news?

  • Seventeen fishermen from Pudukottai and Rameswaram who were onboard three mechanized boats were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of trespassing while fishing.
  • In the Rameswaram incident, eight fishermen, including a minor boy, were arrested under charges of poaching by the Sri Lankan Navy and their mechanized boat was impounded.

India Sri Lanka Bilateral relations

Historical Ties

  • The earliest mention of Sri Lanka in Indian history dates back to the epic of Ramayana, which mentions the rescue of Sita from Lanka by Lord Ram.
  • The Ramayana epic, which describes Lord Ram’s rescue of Sita from Lanka, contains the earliest allusion to Sri Lanka in Indian history.
  • Around 2000 years ago, Buddhism migrated from India to Sri Lanka, creating a strong cultural and religious bond between the two nations.
  • Historically, Sri Lanka’s northern and northeastern provinces have had commercial ties to India.
  • Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) was governed by the British throughout the colonial era but was administered separately and not as a part of British India.
  • Indentured labourers, primarily from Tamil Nadu in India, were sent to Ceylon by British colonial authorities in the 19th century, and finally many Tamils remained there.

Post-Independence Relations

  • India gained independence in 1947, followed by Ceylon in 1948.
  • Indian Tamils residing in ceylon were subjected to discrimination by the administration of Ceylon, which was dominated by Sinhalese, straining ties with India.
  • The Shastri-Sirimavo Pact, which was struck in 1964, gave citizenship to many Indian Tamils living in Ceylon and made it easier for them to return to India.
  • In the 1970s and 1980s, Sri Lanka moved closer to the United States while India transferred its allegiance to the Soviet Union.
  • In Sri Lanka, tensions between the Sinhalese and Tamil populations grew, resulting in violent occurrences in 1977 and 1981.
  • India’s Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) supported and trained Tamil rebel organizations in Sri Lanka during this time in an effort to topple the country’s government and prevent the establishment of a separate Tamil state.
  • The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist militant group, emerged in 1976 and became a prominent force.
  • The India-Sri Lanka Accord was signed in 1987, granting limited autonomy to Tamil areas.
  • However, it faced opposition from Sinhalese nationalists who viewed it as interference in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.
  • The Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) was deployed in Sri Lanka as part of the accord but faced resistance from both the LTTE and some sections of the Sri Lankan government.
  • In 1990, the IPKF mission was ended, and India’s involvement in Sri Lanka reduced.

Post-Cold War Period Relations

  • With the end of the Cold War, India adopted a more outward-looking approach and sought to improve relations with neighboring countries, including Sri Lanka.
  • The India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1998, aiming to enhance economic cooperation.
  • India encouraged dialogue and a ceasefire between Sri Lanka and the LTTE from 2000 to 2003, although it did not have direct involvement.
  • The period from 2005 to 2009 saw the intensification of the civil war in Sri Lanka, with the Sri Lankan government launching a military offensive against the LTTE.
  • The LTTE’s leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed in 2009, and the LTTE was militarily defeated.
  • During this period, Sri Lanka developed closer ties with Pakistan and China, leading to concerns in India about security implications and increased influence of these countries in Sri Lanka.
  • China’s involvement in infrastructure development, including the Hambantota port, raised strategic concerns for India.

Current Focus of India-Sri Lanka Ties

Relations

    • Economic ties: After the US and the UK, India is Sri Lanka’s third-largest export market. The India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement helps more than 60% of Sri Lanka’s exports. From 2005 to 2019, India’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) totaled over USD 1.7 billion.
    • Defence: India and Sri Lanka conduct joint Military (Mitra Shakti) and Naval exercise (SLINEX).
    • Participation in Groupings: In organisations led by India, such as SAARC and BIMSTEC (the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), Sri Lanka participates.

Issues in India-Sri Lanka Relations

    • Killing of Fishermen: A persistent issue between these two countries is the killing of Indian fisherman by the Sri Lankan Navy. 284 Indian fishermen were detained in total in 2019 and 2020, and 53 Indian boats were seized by Sri Lankan police
    • Influence of China: Relationships between India and Sri Lanka are being strained by China’s quickly expanding economic imprint in Sri Lanka. As of now, China is by far the greatest investor in Sri Lanka, making up 23.6% of all FDI from 2010 to 2019 compared to 10.4% from India.
    • 13th Amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution: The 13th Amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution was introduced to address the demands of the Tamil community for equality, justice, peace, and respect within a united Sri Lanka.
    • Lack of bipartition support to India-Sri Lanka ties soured precipitously when Mahindra Rajapaksha leased the strategically significant port of Hambantota to China, an issue highly sensitive to India.
    • Ethnic issue: It is the prolonged conflict between the Sinhala majority and Tamil minority in Sri Lanka that has severely undermined bilateral ties in recent decades. The issue also involves war-crimes probe and accountability issues in SriLanka.

Strategic Challenges brought on by Sri Lanka’s expanding links with China

  • SL reportedly began favoring China over India during the two countries’ low-key relationship, and China’s footprint in Sri Lanka has grown dramatically in recent years. Chinese money began to pour over time, and it has even initiated expensive infrastructure projects in the island nation.
  • Since the 1950s, China has been Sri Lanka’s main source of armaments. Two Chinese submarines and a battleship were permitted to land in Sri Lanka’s Colombo port in 2014.
  • The relationship between New Delhi and Colombo was seriously damaged by this, and tensions with Beijing were also raised.
  • China constructed two ports in Sri Lanka as part of the Maritime Silk Route (MSR) programme, one in Colombo and one in Hambantota.
  • Supreme SAT (Pvt.), the sole satellite operator in Sri Lanka, and China have also worked together on satellite launch projects.
  • India intends to construct Trincomalee Port as a counterbalance to Chinese advances at Hambantota Port in an effort to stand up to China.

 Conclusion

  • Indian officials must carefully assess how to respond to any requests or issues raised by Sri Lankan authorities while taking Sri Lanka’s “India first” strategy as a response to India’s “neighborhood first” policy.
  • India must communicate with Sri Lanka in a non-reciprocal way in order to understand and support Sri Lanka’s development of infrastructure projects.
  • It must, however, watch out that it is never given second-class treatment. India must be firm in demanding that its interests and concerns be appropriately taken into account and avoid becoming complacent in the wake of Colombo’s policy announcement.

Source: The Hindu, Indian express.

Mains Question.

List out the phases of development in India-Sri Lanka relations. How China’s emergence in Indian ocean is affecting India-Sri Lankan ties.