Foreign Ministry kept out of Indian VIPs' visit

Govt. told war should not be the only option

India wants full implementation of 13th Amendment till final solution

Govt. told to go slow on defence deals with Pakistan and China

Ranil refused vehicle for official travel by SL mission in UK

While the UNP struggled with another internal crisis that threatened to leave the party disunited in the run up to the provincial polls in Sabaragamuwa and the North Central Province, the government was to last week receive a reality check on war and peace from India, prompting President Mahinda Rajapakse to take a fresh look at the option of working on a national agenda with the opposition.

Whatever be the internal issues the UNP has to deal with, when it comes to the real problems of governance, the burden of tackling them is on President Rajapakse and he knows only too well, there is a Himalayan task ahead, the reality of which was driven home by a top level Indian delegation last week.

Suffocating

For all the propaganda hype on ending the war by December and capturing Tiger Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan, the government knows only too well the reality is otherwise and that the economic, political and international noose is slowly but surely suffocating it, and what the Indian delegation did last week was drive home these points effectively to the President, which of course he acknowledged albeit somewhat reluctantly.

Having placed all his eggs in the war basket, the President has now come to terms with the fact there is no quick fix solution to the problem and that the government has to be prepared for the long haul, the feasibility of which in turn would depend on the economy holding out.

And on that front the President sees the danger signs with inflation running at over 30 per cent, foreign exchange reserves drying up in addition to the government being severely cash-strapped even as the threat of losing the GSP Plus facility and with it over 300,000 jobs and over US $ 1 billion in export earnings also loom large.

That is further to the crippling strikes planned by the trade union sector that is demanding higher wages with the only positive for the President in this backdrop being a weakened, disunited opposition, too busy fighting among themselves to focus on real issues confronting the country.

To fund and maintain a high intensity war in such a scenario with the global economic crisis adding to the government's woes is no mean task especially given the very slow military progress made on the ground and slowly but surely, the President is waking up to the reality he will have to overcome the economic crisis as a matter of priority if the government is to survive politically.

And to survive economically, the government has to ease the pressure on the military front to the point that it can create a conducive climate for investment, tourism and even securing the GSP Plus facility, further to reducing the human and military costs as a result of the war, all of which of course came to be placed on the Presidential table by India.

What was of concern to India from their own national security perspective was that if the Government of Sri Lanka loses the economic war, it could face serious repercussions on the war against terrorism as well given the fact the LTTE too were digging their heels in and had to only ensure the economic collapse of the state to secure their objectives.

Clear message

It is having taken stock of this overall situation in Sri Lanka that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to send his National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, Foreign Secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon and Defence Secretary Sri Vijay Singh to Colombo with a very clear message on Indian concerns and what steps New Delhi deemed necessary to halt the downward slide of the country which could also impact on the Big Brother.

The visit itself was to be hush-hush and was intimated to the Sri Lankan authorities just 24 hours before the arrival of the VIP delegation with even the Foreign Ministry kept out of the loop.

It was the Presidential Secretariat that was first informed by the Indian High Commission in Colombo that a high level Indian delegation wanted to have consultations with their Sri Lankan troika counterpart, President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse and Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapakse who months earlier visited New Delhi for talks where various agreements were reached and assurances made, especially on a political solution to the ethnic crisis.

Request

Having discussed the visit, the Indian side wanted it kept completely out of the public domain, stressing that "urgency is secrecy."

Given the importance of the visit, a request was also made for a meeting with President Rajapakse, which was readily agreed to and with that the stage was set for the top level Indian arrival on the morning of Friday, June 20 which up to then the Foreign Ministry was blissfully unaware of.

In fact, the only intimation the Foreign Ministry had was in the form of an official diplomatic note on the afternoon of Thursday, June 19 and that after Presidential Secretariat sanction had been obtained for the visit for Urgent Diplomatic Clearance for a special Indian aircraft.

Military status

Interestingly, by the time the diplomatic note reached the Foreign Ministry, the matter had already been cleared by the Defence Ministry and approval granted for the flight carrying the Indian VIPs to be designated special military status.

And for his part, Foreign Minister Bogollagama was totally in the dark over the visit and neither he nor Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona or for that matter even a simple protocol officer of the Ministry so much as got an opportunity to shake the hand of any of the Indian VIPs. That was the secrecy in which the visit was couched.

But having heard of the impending visit of the Indian delegation in the grapevine, Minister Bogollagama did meet with President Rajapakse to inquire after it, only to be told, "Mewwa api balagannam. Ogollo ravum gagaha innako" (We will look after these things. You people keep loafing).

Impending visit

Such was the humiliation Bogollagama was subjected to over the visit, he was in fact chairing a three hour meeting with the participation of over 200 senior government officials on the SAARC Summit preparations at the BMICH Thursday when news of the impending visit of the Indian delegation reached him.

By this time the Foreign Minister had already made arrangements to proceed to Kandy later in the night to meet up with the Mahanayakas the following day and given the Presidential snub, he proceeded to Kandy Thursday night, thereby missing the Indian delegation completely.

Be that as it may, the Presidential Secretariat quickly put a programme together for the visit with all three service chiefs called upon to make separate presentations to the Indian delegation on the progress of the war. An interesting aside in these presentations was of course that of Army Commander Sarath Fonseka who kept repeating "I" with regard to the achievements of the security forces, whereas the navy commander and the air force commander opted for the use of "we."

But one factor which clearly emerged from the discussions was that the government looked at the issue as a long term problem, thus debunking the theory the war would end by December this year which prompted the Indian side to urge Sri Lanka to look at other options to avert a crisis situation in the country due to economic and political ramifications.

The government was told by the Indian delegation that it was going to be tough to maintain a sustained military campaign in the long run due to the economic situation and the international pressure over human rights and other issues and as such other options should be looked at seriously to ensure the LTTE does not seize the initiative somewhere down the road.

Negotiations

War, they said should not be the only option. The not-so-subtle message to the government was to explore the possibility of negotiations and come out with a viable political solution while fully implementing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in the interim, police and land powers et al.

In fact, the Indian team raised in particular the slow progress of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) despite assurances given by the government to speed up the process and also drew attention to statements made by government leaders on dismissing the findings of the committee.

Narayanan went so far as to draw the attention of the government to the prompt Indian statement issued after the APRC submitted its interim report in January and urged the administration to speedily table practical proposals which would provide for extensive devolution within a united Sri Lanka.  Please note, 'united' and not 'unitary.'

Further, the Indian team also asked the government whether enough was being done to build the much trumpeted southern consensus stating the priority may be shifting to 'divisive' politics due to the upcoming provincial polls and the non implementation of the 17th Amendment cited as examples.

Defence cooperation

Significantly, references were also made to restoring normalcy in the east now that provincial polls were concluded and the government was very diplomatically advised to induct Chief Minister Pillayan into the APRC process only after he agrees to a process of decommissioning arms.

There were of course many positives for the government too especially on the issue of defence cooperation with India agreeing to help and bear the cost of the restoration of a patrol ship, naval surveillance and radar support to offset the threat of the LTTE's fledgling airforce.

But in doing so India made it a point to tell the government there were serious concerns over continuing procurements from Pakistan and China with a question posed whether such options with Iran were also been pursued. The presence of Chinese and Pakistan equipment particularly in the north, India said was a cause for concern given the close proximity to South India and the danger of monitoring their facilities.

Particular reference was made to the role of  Pakistani airforce officers in Sri Lanka.

Given the sensitivity of the issue, India went so far as to advise the government to strengthen defence cooperation between the two countries by also delivering on the economic and political fronts, thus ensuring stability in the region.

Concern

And in dealing with the economic issue, the Indian delegation was to express concern over Minister Fowzie's statement on the takeover of IOC sheds and urged the government to be careful in not making Indian companies scapegoats in the twin crises, energy and food, leading to a possible public backlash which would in turn impact seriously on their bilateral relations.

Having discussed these issues, the military campaign of the security forces was dealt with at length, details of which are not published for national security considerations, but suffice it to say, the Indian side wanted to know why the campaign has not kept up to public utterances on successes and time frames in particular.

The delegation also drew the government's attention to the sensitivities of the Indian public on the military campaign, especially when wrong public statements are made and civilians on a large scale get caught on a regular basis.

Safe

More significantly, the Indian team very clearly queried whether the intensifying military campaign was resulting in more retaliatory attacks and security lapses and why the government was unable to make the rest of the country outside the north safe.

In particular, India was to express its concern about the flow of refugees to India and the grave inconvenience to the Tamil community including the estate sector Tamils as a result of not only the military campaigns but also the tough security operations throughout the country.

Of course the upcoming SAARC Summit was also focused on at length, especially from a security perspective, considering the likelihood of the Indian Prime Minister attending the summit and the Indian delegation made it clear, they will be making their own security arrangements for Manmohan Singh's visit.

Own troops

To do so, the Indian team told the President they will need approval to bring in their own troops, helicopters, bullet-proof vehicles,  naval surveillance etc., the details of which they said would be worked out with the Sri Lankan authorities. The President readily agreed.

It was pointed out that while  Sri Lanka would want to hold the summit and it is to be welcomed, the LTTE will do its damndest to derail the process and that therefore they have to leave no stone unturned in ensuring proper security arrangements are in place.

Dealing with specifics, the government was told there have been attacks or major weapons and bomb detections in every potential SAARC venue identified earlier including Kandy and Nuwara Eliya and that after Colombo was identified as a venue, numerous attacks have taken place in and around the city.

Reference was also made to the spate of bomb attacks in the Mt. Lavinia area after it was earmarked for the summit retreat for the heads of state and the Indian team urged the government to provide a better environment for the holding of the summit including a political climate thus ensuring better security.

Lapses

Not pulling their punches, the Indian team said the government has to do everything possible to maximise security since India is concerned of any lapses not only for their delegation but also for others such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal as an Indian connection would be concocted in the event any unfortunate incident was to occur.

Given the wide gamut of issues raised by the Indians, the President realised, the SAARC Summit may not see the light of day unless the concerns raised were addressed and the political temperature in the country brought down a notch or two and no sooner the visit ended, Rajapakse got activated.

And what better way to do so than a rapprochement with the main opposition UNP and its Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and so it was to be.

It should be also recalled that the Indian visit came just  days after Wickremesinghe met them in New Delhi and discussed the crisis situation in the country.

Thus having done the groundwork to facilitate such a rapprochement, President Rajapakse on Tuesday, June 24 met with a group of religious leaders where lo and behold, they made an offer  to arrange a meeting with Wickremesinghe to promote national unity.

Facilitate

The Inter Religious Council of Sri Lanka in a statement after the meeting with the President said they offered to facilitate a meeting between the two leaders. "Despite the current military operations, we believed that the two leaders should come together to promote national unity to promote good governance and human rights," the council also said, almost echoing what the Indian delegation wanted done on the ground.

Further, the Religious Council was to also state the President should ensure all political parties are included in the APRC process and that the 13th Amendment to the constitution be implemented fully, once again right on the button of what the Indian's also wanted done.

Among the religious leaders who made this call were Ven. Dr. Bellanwila Wimalaratne Thero, Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero, Ven. Brahmanawatte Seewali Thero, Bishop Harold Perera, Bishop Rayappu Joseph, Moulavi Alhaj Niyaz Mohamed, Moulavi Shahul Hameed Adam Bawa, and Kyochi Sagino of the World Religious Organisation.

Views

And with Wickremesinghe who was away in Europe at the time returning to Colombo on Friday, the religious leaders are to follow up with a meeting to ascertain his views on such a rapprochement and it comes at a time the UNP Leader is confronted with another internal crisis.

In fact Ven. Sobitha Thero was to speak with Wickremesinghe on Thursday before the Opposition Leader boarded a flight in Paris to return to Colombo and agreement was reached for a meeting no sooner he returned.

Evident

Of course petty politics on the part of the government as was evident during the UNP Leader's visit to Europe has queered the pitch for a rapprochement between Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe and it remains to be seen how much pressure the religious leaders can bring to bear on the two leaders for a face to face meeting in the name of national unity.

This pettiness was brought into sharp focus when the Sri Lankan High Commission in London refused Wickremesinghe official transport to attend his meetings in London including one with the Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Lord Mark Malloch-Brown.

The Sri Lankan Mission had told Wickremesinghe all they can do is provide him transport from the airport to the hotel and that he would have to fund his way from thereon, compelling him to ask for a vehicle from a personal friend to go for his meetings.

Irked

And irked by the treatment meted out to him, Wickremesinghe was to tell the British Minister the pettiness of the government citing the vehicle issue, when the question of the possibility of developing a national consensus was broached.

Such drama apart, Wickremesinghe arrived in Colombo Friday afternoon to face another internal crisis in the party with several party members pushing for urgent reforms including amendments to the party constitution which included the appointment of a deputy leader, three assistant leaders and the decision making process to be in the hands of a central committee.

The committee of party seniors appointed by Wickremesinghe  to listen to the grievances of the members was expected to meet him Friday evening to look at a possible compromise, based on which, events are expected to unfold in the coming weeks.