Colombo might have won the war with China’s help. It can’t win the peace without India’s
Just in case you missed it in the heat of the elections, here’s the take on the situation in Sri Lanka:
Now, while President Rajapaksa’s election manifesto promised to include in the Sri Lankan Constitution a charter to “uphold and protect [...]
A stable balance between Sri Lanka’s ethnic groups better serves India’s interests than a partitioned island
In an op-ed in Mint I suggest how India might acquire greater leverage over the Sri Lankan government and use it to shape post-civil war situation.
Excerpt:
New Delhi’s half-apologetic, half-embarrassed attitude towards providing military assistance to Sri Lanka pushed Colombo into [...]
Post-war Sri Lanka can’t do without strong bilateral ties with India
Western countries are considering blocking an US$1.9 billion IMF load to Sri Lanka, not least due to pressure from human rights groups and Tamil diaspora groups. The Sri Lankan government, whose public finances and balance of payments are under pressure both due to the war [...]
India’s (and the world’s) priority should be to avert a humanitarian disaster
If the fate of the hapless Tamil civilians is the world’s principal consideration with regard to the war in Sri Lanka, then it stands to reason that that war itself must come to an end as soon as possible. It is unrealistic to expect [...]
Watch out for the LTTE’s mischief in Tamil Nadu
The LTTE leadership probably calculates that destabilising Tamil Nadu by inciting widespread political violence will serve its interests. If you think that lawyers in the Madras High Court turned into violent mobs, torched police stations and got into street battles with riot police just like that, think [...]
Fly or die?
The anonymous Western diplomat got it right:
One Western diplomat said if Prabhakaran were to flee, it would be viewed as cowardice by his followers, ending Tamil militancy for a generation.
But the diplomat, who did not want to be named because he is not authorized by his government to speak on record, said the [...]
Those planes can take passengers too
Sandeep Unnithan reports that the Sri Lankan troops who captured airfields and landing strips used by the LTTE didn’t find the two Zlin Z-143 planes that made up its air wing. Some analysts think that the light aircraft could have been dismantled and stowed away in the jungle. (via R [...]
A parting shot of wisdom
Lasantha Wickramatunga, editor of Sri Lanka’s Sunday Leader was murdered in Colombo last week. The Leader published a posthumous editorial that appears to have been written by the late Mr Wickramatunga before his death (linkthanks Anand Sampath).
Neither should our distaste for the war be interpreted to mean that we support the [...]
Non-interference and its unhappy consequences
It’s not over until it’s over—and there is some fight left in the LTTE yet—but judging from available news reports, it is clear that the Tamil Tigers are cornered in Kilinochchi and a few other towns. The ripples of the situation have crossed the Palk Strait and have already rocked politics [...]
Should India really bother?
Let’s consider one narrative: India is opposed to the LTTE, but can’t support the Sri Lanka army because of a number of reasons—mostly having to do with domestic politics, but also perhaps for strategic reasons. So when Pakistan becomes a big supplier of small arms to Colombo, should India really worry?
Rather than [...]
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