India won’t tell Sri Lanka what do to

Acknowledging that India had fought a proxy war in Sri Lanka with the Tamil Tigers, the country’s foreign secretary has said that India won’t tell its neighbour what to do to find solution to the decades long ethnic conflict.

Speaking to a group of visiting Sri Lankan editors , Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said President Mahinda Rajapakse was ‘in a way right’ when he said that he had fought India’s war since it was the LTTE that had killed Rajiv Gandhi and also because the security of Sri Lanka was interlinked with that of India.

“India would not remain a safe place if Sri Lanka’s security is threatened, as the spill over effects of terrorism always put the security of those who are around in danger” said Menon.

Toeing Sri Lankan President’s line that any solution to the Tamil national question should a ‘home grown one’, Menon said “it is neither the job of India nor of Norway to prescribe what is best for Sri Lanka”.

“I am quite impressed by what President Mahinda Rajapakse has explained as his plan towards this. India will always back him in whatever decisions he thinks best suited for Sri Lanka” Menon added.

Tamil political observers point out that in the current climate, India has no leverage against the Sri Lankan state which is leaning towards China and therefore it is not a case of ‘won’t tell Sri Lanka what to do’ but a case of ‘can’t tell Sri Lanka what to do’.

As a friendly neighbour India’s duty and task is to extend its fullest cooperation to Sri Lanka to find a solution suitable for her, Menon was quoted as further saying.

The 13th Amendment is a result of the Indo - Lanka Accord. It is part of the Sri Lankan Constitution now. It is only Sri Lanka that should decide whether to provide a solution on the lines of 13th Amendment or go beyond it, Menon told reporters.

Claiming that the war in Sri Lanka had made Indo-Sri Lanka media reports ‘mono-focused,’ Menon said that he hoped there would be a diversification of subjects now that the war was over, according to reports.

“Sri Lanka has a huge market here in India. It should exploit the opportunities. Also we should work together in many areas, like garment industry, where Sri Lanka is known for its expertise on high end products, whereas we are known for lower ends due to cheap labour. Together we can do wonders” Menon was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, India was kept updated about the situation in Sri Lanka's north "from day one" of the security forces' final assault against the Tamil Tigers till the eventual defeat of the LTTE, the powerful Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa revealed.

"From the very beginning, from day one, we kept India very well briefed and we prevented any suspicion being created whether it was because of our relationship with China or Pakistan or anybody else," said Rajapaksa, who played a major role in the victory against the LTTE.

"We created a mechanism with India, away from the contacts of the Foreign Ministry, for us to develop a close relationship mechanism between the officials," he said in an interview to the Sunday Times newspaper.

From India, the "trio" comprising Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh were part of the mechanism, he said.

"On our part we had President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, (President's Special Adviser) Basil Rajapaksa and myself. We developed two teams and we were exchanging views and meetings," the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary said.

Rajapaksa, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said the Sri Lankan team visited India many times to discuss the issues that were coming up.

"Tamil Nadu was putting pressure. We understood that and did certain things that helped them (India)," Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said.

"Throughout these years (of LTTE war) we developed this friendship and worked very closely," he said, adding, "whatever other pressures there were, we knew that these friendships will help us overcome that."

He said when the Sri Lankan security forces advanced to the later stages of the war, they tasted many military successes, giving them confidence about winning the battle against the Tigers.

"I was so sure we would finish this so I did not want to give any chance for any force to rob these victories from us, so I was very blunt with them and was not going to give in at all," Rajapaksa said about the LTTE.

"I was not ready to give in at any stage to anything or anybody. I knew that it was the President's position as well. We knew exactly what to do," Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said.