14 India-Sri Lanka Relations

Dr. Suresh Dhanda

Structure of the Module

1. Introduction

2. Objectives

3. Various stages of Relations

3.1. Relations with Differences

3.2. Friendly Relations

3.3. Tense Relations

3.4. Return of Cordial Relations

4. Problems

4.1.Matter of Kutchdweep Island

4.2. Problem of Smuggling

4.3. Problem of Trade Deficit

4.4. Problem of Tamil Migrants

4.5. Demand for Separate Tamil State

5. Conclusion

6. Important Questions

7. Suggested Readings

1. Introduction

Sri Lanka is the nearest neighbour of India, and both have historical, political, social and religious similarities. In respect of population, India is almost fifty times larger than Sri Lanka and the distance between the two is just 36 miles of Pak strait. A mixture of strained and cooperative relations is witnessed between the two. Due to these kinds of relations, there have been both similarities and differences of interests in their relations. But the situation has never been as, as it was in 1980s when the relations between the two were extremely at low level. Strength in relations has also been there through which they have been able to solve their mutual disputes. One more reason of not having the direct collision has been the imbalance of military capability between the two. A tense situation continued between the two on the issue of ethnicity. Except Tamil problem, rest of the issues have been solved up to a great extent satisfactorily by both the countries. Beside these ups and downs, both kept dynamism continue in their relations.

2. Objectives

This module will apprise the readers to the various issues of disputes between India and Sri Lanka. Both are the close neighbours with historical, political, social and religious similarities. And simultaneously, both are in disputes on certain issues. Hence, the study of their relations becomes essential. The present module will highlight all the stages of their relations and will analyse all the matters of dispute between them in detail. Important questions and suggested readings have also been provided in the end of the module.

3. Various Stages of Relations

Clear analysis of India-Sri Lanka relations can be done on the bases of following classifications: – (1) Relations with Differences, 1948-1955. (2) Friendly Relations, 1956-1976. (3) Tense Relations, 1977-1993. (4) Return of Cordial Relations, 1994-2011.

3.1. Relations With Differences

India and Sri Lanka, both were liberated almost at the same time after a long period from colonial slavery. It was expected that both will maintain mutual friendly relations with similar approach. The decisions taken by the Joint National Party of Sri Lanka in early years (1948-1955) on foreign policy were having differences with Indian policies. The following steps taken by Sri Lanka government created the situation of separatism between the two:-

Sri Lanka kept continue its military alliances with British even after the independence.

Sri Lanka decided to keep the Navy Base of Trincomalee and the Air Force Base of Katunayake under the control of British.

It developed cordial relations with China and Pakistan to increase its own power against India.

It took part in San Francisco Summit to sign the peace treaty with Japan in 1951.

The differences of Kotelawala with Nehru on the issue of communism during the conference of Asian Prime Ministers in 1954.

The contrary view of Sri Lanka on ‘Soviet Imperialism’ during Bandung conference’ in 1955.

Even after these contradictions, both have adopted similar approaches on various international issues. The issues on which both were having similar approach were—- (1) both observed faith in the unity of nations of this region through the participation in the conference of Asian Nations in March 1947 even after the dependence on colonial powers. (2) Both opposed the Dutch colonialism during a conference in New Delhi on the question of freedom of Indonesia in January 1949. (3) Both the countries observed faith in the policy of nonalignment. (4) Both got the membership of commonwealth nations. (5) Both tried to uplift their economic interests along with the cooperation in other fields during the conference of commonwealth Prime Ministers at Colombo. (6) Nehru and Kotelawala reached an important agreement on the problems of Migrants in 1954. (7) Even after having the attraction towards the west, Sri Lanka did not accept the membership of military alliance, SEATO, keeping in view the opposition of India in this regard.

Essentially, there has been a lack of friendly relations between the both in early years but there were no hatred relations at all. They have adopted the similar approaches on many issues even after the disputes on some important issues. It may be one of the reasons that Sri Lankan government at that time was not a proper expression of public opinion. That was a government only of few rich people of urban elite class having western education which was representing only about 7% of total population of Sri Lanka.

3.2. Friendly Relations

These relations changed rapidly and there have been friendly relations of India with both the later governments [S.W.R.D.Bhandarnayake (1956-59) and Srimao Bhandarnayake (1960-65)]. Followings were the reasons of having friendly relations between both the countries during the regime of Bhandarnayake:-

The new government after taking the charge asked the British to leave the military and navy bases from Sri Lanka.

Now Sri Lanka adopted clearer approach on nonalignment in foreign policy.

Sri Lanka adopted the approach similar to India on Suez and Hungry problems in international politics also.

Both countries tried to solve the bilateral issues, particularly the problem of Migrants, sympathetically and swiftly.

Both adopted the similar approach on the Tibet issue of 1959.

In this way, the regime of Bhandarnayake has been the indicator of improvement in relations of both the countries. Its main reason has been the courtesy visits by the political leaders of India and Sri Lanka. Nehru visited Sri Lanka in May 1957 and Bhandarnayake visited India in November 1956 and December 1957. Sri Lanka organised Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, jointly with India and Pakistan

in 1957.

The process of cooperation remained continue in the regime of SrimaoBhandarnayake also. However, the voice of different approaches also erupted in some matters. Followings were the reasons for the development of activities of friendship and cooperation between both the countries—- (1) Sri Lanka supported the accession of Goa, Daman and Diu in India after liberation from British in 1960. (2) After the death of Nehru, Sri Lanka declared the public holiday on 28th May in the honour of Nehru. (3) Sri Lanka started to follow the foreign policy of nonalignment more clearly. It adopted the friendly attitude with both the parties of dispute by remaining neutral on disputed matters. (4) It made important efforts to solve the issue of Migrants through the Shastri-Bhandarnayake agreement of 1964 on Migrants.

Along with these cooperative aspects, differences were also on some aspects. The most important dispute among them has been on the role of Sri Lanka during the Indo-China war of 1962. During the regime of Bhandarnayake, the relations of Sri Lanka remained more cordial with China instead of India. That’s why Sri Lanka did not declare China an aggressor during Indo-China war of 1962 and welcomed the one sided ceasefire declaration by China. But this problem has another aspect also. Sri Lanka called the conference of six nonaligned countries in Colombo to solve the Indo-China dispute. Though the recommendations of this conference were important, yet could not be executed due to non cooperative attitude of China. The role of China cannot be denied in this regard. In this way, the relations during the regime of Bhandarnayake have been normal even after some disputes.

India-Sri Lanka relations remained cordial due to the positive approach adopted by Dudley Senanayake Government (1965-70) and again by Bhandarnayake government (1970-77). More stability in relations appeared in this period due to various treaties and agreements signed by both the countries. These were—- (1) both the countries worked together in UN to declare the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace in 1971. (2) India sent military assistance to Sri Lanka on the request of its government to suppress the anti-government activities in 1971. (3) By showing the broad-mindedness, India handed over the island of Kutchdeev to Sri Lanka in 1974. Though Sri Lanka maintained complete neutrality during Indo-Pak war of 1971, yet there was no negative impact on the relations of both. Contrary to this, last efforts were taken to solve the problem of Migrants between both the countries through the joint declaration by Indira Gandhi-Bhandarnayake in 1974.

3.3. Tense Relations

During the governments of Jayavardhane (1977-87) and Premdasa (1988-93), the main issue of the dispute has been the problem of Tamil Migrants. The events of this period kept the relations of both the countries unfriendly. The relations of both countries touched their lower point during this period. The Tamil-Singhali communal riots of 1981 and 1983 not only repeated the 1958 and 1977 incidents but demonstrated the extreme disappointment also. Without mentioning the detailed description of events of this historical context it becomes clear about their situation from the different main incidents of that time. Mainly in this period—- (1) India and Sri Lanka signed the historical treaty on 29th May 1987 to solve this problem; (2) as a result, a soldier at the time of taking the Guard of Honour attacked to kill Rajiv Gandhi; (3) India sent its peace keeping force to Sri Lanka on 29th July 1987 to execute the agreement under the articles 2.14 and 2.16 of the agreement; (4) the peace keeping force returned back without completing its task according to the conditions of the agreement after Premadasa taken the charge as President.

Hence in this period, there was a negative impact on the relations of both along with tarnishing the image of India. Later on, due to the involvement of Tamil terrorists in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, India not only stopped the support to them but also appealed the Sri Lankan government to hand over their chief, Prabhakaran.

3.4. Return of Cordial Relations

The relations of India and Sri Lanka again returned back to cordiality after taking the charge of government in Sri Lanka by Chandrika Kumar Tunga (as Prime Minister in August 1994 and as President in November 1994). After that, Sri Lankan foreign minister visited India during 6-10 October 1994 and increased the trust on issues of mutual cooperation. These relations became stronger after the official visit of Chandrika Kumar Tunga to India in 1995. Chandrika Kumar Tunga once more visited India unofficially in 1996. At the same time, a non-congress government was formed in India which speeded up this process of bilateral relations. The relations of both the countries improved through the policies of National Front government, particularly the ‘Gujral Principle’, towards the neighbours. The same policies of India remained continue even after the Vajpayee government came to the power. Both countries signed an agreement to increase the ‘free trade’ system during the visit of Chandrika Kumar Tunga to India in December 1998 which strengthened the bilateral economic relations. This agreement became effective between both the countries from 1st October 1999. Under this agreement, India in next 3 years and Sri Lanka in next 8 years will abolish the negative list of trade goods between both the countries. Under this agreement, India will exempt 1000 goods to be imported from Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka will exempt 900 goods to be imported from India from the tax. Besides, India will give 50% tax rebate on 400 other goods, and it will be completely abolished in the next 3 years. Similarly, Sri Lanka will provide 50% tax rebate on 600 other goods in the next 3 years. On rest of all goods, Sri Lanka will provide tax rebate of 35% in first 3 years, 70% after next 3 years and will exempt completely in total 8 years. In this way, through this agreement—- (1) bilateral trade will increase between both the countries; (2) trade deficit of Sri Lanka against India will be reduced; and (3) will be helpful in the development of South Asia Free Trade Zone. The most important was that Chandrika Kumar Tunga visited India after the Pokhran-II of May 1998 which proves that Sri Lanka has properly evaluated the security initiatives of India.

The efforts for mutual friendship between India and Sri Lanka continued. Internal crises get intensified in Sri Lanka in April-May 2000. With increasing the tension between Government and LTTE, the incidents of ethnic riots and murders started. Sri Lanka government appealed India for help. The foreign minister of Sri Lanka, Laxman Kadirgamad, visited India in this regard in May 2000. Keeping in view the past experiences, particularly of 1987-90, Indian government expressed its helplessness by following the policy of ‘caution, worry and continuity’ on this issue. Though Sri Lanka didn’t like this but India did not want to repeat its bad experience. To clarify the difference of thinking between both the countries, Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh visited Colombo in June 2000. All the disputes related to ‘free trade agreement’ signed by Kumar Tunge in 1998 have also been solved up to the end of this year. Hence, the overall relations have been cordial even after some differences in approaches.

After elections in Sri Lanka, Ranal Vikram Singhe became Prime Minister. But the relations remained warm. After the appointment of the Prime Minister, the peace talks started between LTTE and government with the mediation of Norway. In the same context, first, Vikram Singhe visited India in the beginning of 2002 and then Kumar Tunga visited India privately in April 2002. Ranil Vikram Singhe reached India on 4 day state visit also in June 2002. During this visit, the discussion was held on bilateral issues, and the desire to develop mutual cooperation was also expressed along with giving the details of peace talks with LTTE through the mediation of Norway. Both the countries signed the ‘memorandum of mutual cooperation’ (consent letter) according to which—– (1) Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) got the permission to open 100 distribution centres in local markets there along with the facility of using Trinkomali seaport for storing the oil. (2) India agreed to give loan of $100 million to Sri Lanka on a very low rate of interest. (3) Both countries agreed to form a study group to find out the possibilities of constructing the land bridge (Adam Bridge) linking Tamil Nadu and North Sri Lanka. In this way, the relations of these countries became deeper on the bases of these agreements.

Though after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and the failure of peace agreement, India kept itself away from the talks between Sri Lanka government and Tamil organisation (LTTE) but the worry about the ordinary Tamil citizens has always been influencing India-Sri Lanka relations. The above phase of peace has become stronger after the change in leadership in Sri Lanka and its victory on Tamil terrorists. It became clear from the decision of newly elected President Mahindra Rajpakshe in 2005 to select India for his foreign visit that new leadership gives utmost importance to India in its bilateral relations. During this visit, India and Sri Lanka not only signed the agreement on ‘comprehensive economic partnership’ but both countries also signed on the consent letters for the cooperation in the fields of railway, air traffic, information technology and energy. As a result, economic cooperation between the both got strengthened. After the victory of Tamil terrorists in Sri Lanka, worries about ordinary Tamils in Sri Lanka increased in India. Keeping in view the seriousness of issue, Rajpakshe sent his special envoy Basil Rajpakshe to Delhi on 26th October 2008 and message of President for the security of civil Tamils conveyed to the Indian leadership. Along with the bilateral efforts, both the countries are also doing efforts to improve their mutual relations through multilateral organisations like SAARC, BIMSTEC and NAM. Besides, both countries came closer to each other in economic field through signing the agreement on free trade.

There were some significant problems between Sri Lanka and India. Some out them have been solved while others are in progress towards solution. And the future of relations between the both will depend on the solution of these problems.

4. Problems

There are five main problems between India and Sri Lanka. Among them four are of ordinary level, the solution of which either done or possible to do and one is of complicated (Tamil Migrants) nature. These are as follows:-

Matter of Kutchdweep Island Problem of Smuggling

Problem of Trade Deficit Problem of Tamil Migrants

Demand for Separate Tamil State

Hence, to understand the India-Sri Lanka relations the detailed analysis of these problems is essential, which is as follows:-

4.1. Matter of Kutchdweep Island

Kutch Island is situated in the Pak strait with an area of total 200 square acres with one kilometre length and one and half kilometre width. This island is situated at a distance of 10.5 miles from the land of Sri Lanka and 12.5 miles from the land of India. India makes its claim on this island due to the right of King Damnad’s zamindari since 1880 while Sri Lanka claims it as its part on the bases of some approval by Indians during the British period in 20th century. Hence, there is a dispute between both the countries on the issue of sovereignty on this island since 1949. Later on, both the countries grappled in dispute on the issue of this island for demarcation of their maritime boundary. Finally, India accepted the sovereignty of Sri Lanka on this island on 28th June 1974 while demonstrating its liberal attitude. In this way, both the countries witnessed vision and maturity by solving this dispute peacefully.

4.2. Problem of Smuggling

The criminal elements of both the countries perform smuggling due to the open maritime boundary. During the decades of 1950s to 1970s, the smuggling of cosmetics and other luxury goods was done from Sri Lanka while gold, silver and opium was used to be smuggled from India. The terrorists also started to use these channels to smuggle the weapons during the decades of 1980 and 1990. Both the countries are influenced with this problem and it can be reduced or eliminated by the joint efforts and cautions of both the countries.

4.3. Problem of Trade Deficit

Balance of trade has also been a problem between both the countries because mutual trade deficit has been in the favour of Sri Lanka. Its main reason is that 90% of Sri Lanka’s export is tea, rubber and coconut product. India is also a main producer of these goods. Hence, it needs not to import these goods. Though trade increased in the preceding decades with the efforts of both the countries, but India’s imports from Sri Lanka are still negligible. The total trade increased from Rs 107.2 million in 1973-74 to Rs 565.7 million in 1977-87 and then Rs 1131.5 crores in 1992-93. But India’s total Imports and exports remained Rs 62 crores and Rs 1069.5 crores respectively in 1992-93. Hence, if strong steps are not taken in this regard the serious problem of trade balance will arise. This imbalance has to be corrected through regional cooperation. Hence, the formation of ‘SAPTA’ on the initiative of SAARC in 1993 is a supporting step. The suggestion of ‘Free Trade’ was also forwarded by Sri Lankan President Chadrika Kumar Tunga in 1995 but India rejected it on the ground of irrelevance. Perhaps it was right decision at that time but if ‘SAPTA’ succeeds in future, this kind of system cannot be denied.

4.4. Problem of Tamil Migrants

From the beginning, the most serious problem which has affected the India-Sri Lanka relations in a significant way is the issue of Tamil migrants. This problem is still a main hurdle in the cordial relations of both the countries.

During the British period, a large number of Indian Tamils were sent to Sri Lanka to be settled in the mountains of Kandyan for the agriculture of tea and rubber. This number was about to 10 lakhs. They are called ‘Indian Tamils’ even after being the inhabitants of Sri Lanka for generations. There was no difference between these Indian Tamils and local Singhalese before independence. Both were entitled with equal political and civil rights. But after the independence, Sri Lanka has deprived them from right to vote through its ‘Citizen Act Number 18 (1948)’, ‘India Pakistani Residents (Citizens) Act Number 3 (1949)’ and ‘Amendment Acts Number 37 (1950) & Number 45 (1952)’. Besides, for the citizenship they have to prove that either they themselves or their parents have been born in Sri Lanka and living continuously in Sri Lanka since 1939. This situation has created many problems for ‘Tamil Indians’. From population point of view, there are 73.95% Singhalese and 18.12% Tamils (both Indian and Sri Lankan) in Sri Lanka. Indian Tamils are settled mainly in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. They were 30% of total voters in Sri Lanka at the time of independence. Due to this new Act, their number reduced to 20% and lakhs of people found themselves in the situation of ‘Statelessness’. There were four reasons responsible for this kind of step taken by Sri Lanka:-

Due to the economic pressure on increasing population the locals thought that opportunities of employment will increase if Indian Tamils leaves Sri Lanka.

Bad impact on economic exchange due to sending a large part of their earnings to India by Indian Migrants.

Tamil Migrants couldn’t make them attached to Sri Lanka even after a long stay.

It was necessary to deprive them from right to vote for political reasons also.

The above reasons directly affect the political systems of southern states of India. India tried to solve these problems in four stages by adopting the different approaches:-

From 1947 to 1950, Nehru viewed this problem in the broader context of Indian Migrants. That’s why; Nehru adopted a tough stand on the return of Tamils to India in a larger number. His stand was that the Tamils of Sri Lanka will stay now in Sri Lanka.

From 1950 to 1962, Nehru granted them citizenship according to the article 8 of Indian constitution by doing an agreement on bilateral bases in this regard. In this way, Nehru’s policy, on one side, has been to protect the Indian Tamils and on the other side, not to decline the bilateral relations. Perhaps only due to this, first agreement was signed in 1954 between India and Sri Lanka in this regard. Followings were the main provisions of Agreement of 1954 between Nehru and Kotelawala: – (i) Citizenship of Sri Lanka should be granted to those who are willing to stay there permanently. (ii) Those who are willing to go India should be sent to India. (iii) The illegal migration to Sri Lanka from India should be stopped strictly. (iv) All the pending applications from two years for citizenship should be disposed off immediately. (v) Indians should be granted right to elect their representatives on the bases of their definite numbers. (vi) The Indians who will not be granted Sri Lankan citizenship should be given the facility to reside as foreigners. (vii) Those who are employed they should be given right to reside there up to the age of 55 years.

Sri Lankan government did no execute this agreement honestly. As a result, only the act of registration was completed up to 1962. In this, 134188 persons were granted citizenship of Sri Lanka by accepting the applications of 31409. On the other side, 675000 Tamils were denied to grant citizenship by rejecting the 205625 applications. On the bases of registration with Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, 53085 persons received citizenship of India. As a result, a large number of Tamil migrants were thrown in the situation of ‘statelessness’.

From 1964 to 1981, Shastri and Indira adopted a new approach by leaving the Nehru’s approach. Under this, they signed agreements to solve the problems of stateless Tamils on the conditions of Sri Lanka by considering the ethnic issue very important for the improvement of bilateral relations. They tried to solve this problem on the bases of agreements of 1964 and 1974. Shastri-Bhandarnayake agreement took place in 1964 in which the problems were solved on the following bases:- (i) Estimated number of these people in Sri Lanka was 975000. Among them India will grant citizenship to 525000 people with their natural increase and Sri Lanka will grant citizenship to 300000 with their natural increase. (ii) This will be completed within 15 years. (iii) The Indians settled in Sri Lanka could send the capital up to the Rs 4000 to India.

Hence after this agreement, the decision only about 150000 people was pending. This was also solved through a joint statement of January 1974 during the visit of Bhandarnayake to India. Through this agreement, India and Sri Lanka agreed to grant the citizenship to 75000 and 75000 people respectively. But even after these agreements, the act of immigration is not occurring in such speed and quantity as was proposed in these agreements. Besides, this problem took a serious shape in the decade of 1980 due to the riots happened time to time, unbending attitude of government and the policy of taking political benefits.

In 1981, Indira denied to grant citizenship of India to any Tamil by adopting the Nehru’s approach. Shastri-Bhandarnayake agreement ended in 1981 and now the responsibility of India is to bring back 5.06 lakh Tamils and to grant the citizenship to those who applied for that. Granting citizenship to rest of the stateless people is the responsibility of Sri Lanka. In this regard, later on, Sri Lanka expressed its consent to grant citizenship to 94000 other people on the bases of a trilateral agreement (India, Sri Lanka and Lanka Workers Congress) of 1986. Finally, Jayavardhane government had to pass Citizen Act of 1986 due to some pressures which states that after granting citizenship by India (5.06 lakhs) and Sri Lanka (4.69 lakhs) the rest of the stateless people will be granted citizenship by Sri Lanka. Under the provision of Citizen Act of 1988, this Act was simplified and the citizenship was granted to those also who have not applied for the citizenship. The cabinet of Sri Lanka declared in June 2003 to introduce a new Act related to the citizenship amendments in parliament in which there was a provision to grant citizenship to Indian Tamils. This Act is important in the respect that there is a consent of both ruling and opposition parties on this Act. Hence, there is a strong possibility of getting passed this Act. Through this agreement, 168141 Indian Tamils living in Sri Lanka will get citizenship. If this Act gets passed then politics of clash will be ended in Sri Lanka which has caused a lot of damage. In this way, this complex problem will be solved.

4.5. Demand for Separate Tamil State

Another problem also emerged with the solution of Tamil migrants’ problem. Due to the emerging ethnic riots and changing political nature, the Tamils settled in Sri Lanka started a demand for a separate state.

The sense of insecurity, mistrust and terror increased after the Jayavardhane came into power. ‘Tamil United Liberation Front’ emerged as a main opposition party after winning 18 seats in parliamentary elections of 1977. But the party of Jayavardhane, ‘United National Party’, also won unprecedented seats (140/168) which established its absolute dominance in the parliament. In this environment, the violence against Tamils broke out instead of accepting the demands of ‘Tamil United Liberation Front’ and the stand of government was also against them. Riots against Tamils again broke up now after 1958 and as a result, dangerous riots took place in 1977, 1981 and 1993. The most serious thing in these riots was that the gap between these riots was decreasing rapidly. Various terrorist organisations were formed by Tamils due to the fear of these riots. Chiefs among them were—‘Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam’ (LTTE), People’s Liberation Organisation for Tamil Elam’ (PLOT), ‘Elam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front’ (EPRLF), ‘Elam Revolutionary Organisation of Students’ (EROS), ‘Tamil Elam Liberation Organisation’ (TELO) and some other secessionist groups associated with these organisations.

The ‘Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam’ was involved in violent riots for autonomy and self governance in the Jaffna island of Sri Lanka from 1982. About 150000 Tamils entered in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu after the riots of 1983. Consequently, whereas the politics of Tamil Nadu influenced the government of India, the Sri Lankan government started to doubt government of India and thought Tamil Nadu a base of Tamil terrorists. In this context, the Indian policy was suffering from fivefold tension which is as follows—– (1) government was to stabilize the politics of South India. (2) The influence of Sri Lankan events on the politics of Tamil Nadu was to be reduced. (3) To observe caution in the support of separatist powers, it could cause the support to the internal separatists of India. (4) To stop the interference of outside powers. (5) To save itself from the allegation of interference in the domestic affairs of other country. Consequently, India adopted the pro-active policy in this regard after 1983 but could not achieve any success.

Sri Lankan government imposed the economic blockade on Jaffna in January 1987 to wipe out the Tamil rebels and attacked from all the sides in May. India, considering it a humanitarian problem, sent its aid on 1st June 1987 under the banner of Red Cross. India sent this aid on 5th June by military planes even after the opposition of Sri Lankan government. This increased the bitterness more. But after a lot of debate, both countries reached Rajiv-Jayavardhane agreement on 29th July 1987. The main conditions of this agreement were as follows:-

The ceasefire will become effective within 48 hours in Northern and Eastern Provinces.

Referendum regarding accession of Northern and Eastern Provinces will be held up to 31st December 1987.

One governor, council of ministers and legislative council will be formed after the elections of North-East Provincial Council.

Elections in United North-East Province will be held within three months and up to December in any case in which the observer will be invited from India.

India is committed to execute this agreement and it will not join any such activity which increases the problem.

Sri Lankan government will grant political pardon to the rebels involved in this.

Whenever it will be necessary, India will provide military training and weapons to solve this problem.

Both countries will form a joint machinery to stop the activities of intelligence agencies of other countries.

India sent a ‘Peace Force’ of 150000 soldiers to Sri Lanka to execute this agreement. Both the parties of Sri Lanka did not think the activities of Peace Force legitimate. Though there was a clear provision regarding this in the section 2.14 and 2.16 (c) of the agreement but Prime Minister Premdasa clearly opposed it. Many militant organisations also opposed this. There were four main reasons of failure of Peace Force– (1) LTTE had not accepted the conditions of agreement completely. (2) Delay in calling back the home, defence and paramilitary forces by Sri Lanka. (3) still the existence of Sri Lankan military basis in northern and eastern provinces. (4) Mutual suspicions among different rebel groups.

Premadasa appealed for calling back the Peace Force after he was elected as President in the elections of 1988. The V.P. Singh government in India also expressed its consent on this issue while adopting the flexible approach towards its neighbours, and called back its last military brigade also up to March 1990 under the provisions of agreement of September 1989.

In this way, sending of Peace Force was a blunder by India. On one side, it annoyed Sri Lanka government and on the other, the rebel organisations also. There was resentment in Indian Army also. 1100 Indian soldiers died in this activity. Keeping in view the wide criticism of ‘Peace Force’, the commander of 54th infantry division deputed in Sri Lanka, Lt. General S.C. Sirdesh Pandey decided to return his Commission Rank and War Medals. The image of the power of Indian forces to fight against the rebels was also damaged largely. Consequently, the relations of both the countries got more tensed.

5. Conclusion

The situation starts to improve in the decade of 1990. Due to the following activities the relations became normal if not friendly– (1) mutual relations improved due to the return of Peace Force. (2) The support and sympathy of India towards Tamil rebels reduced due to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by Tamil rebels in 1991. (3) Relations improved after the new government of Chandrika Kumar Tunga came into power in 1994 in Sri Lanka.(4) More improvement was witnessed in relations due to the new policy for neighbours adopted by the United Front government in 1996. (5) Official visit in 1995 and unofficial visit in 1996 by Chandrika Kumar Tunga also increased the mutual interaction between both the countries. (6) During the 30 months of tenure of N.N. Jha, son of shri C.S. Jha as a High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, in place of J.N. Dixit, the good relations between both the countries also improved. A large number of Tamil refugees are still present in India. The question of their return and the relations of Tamil migrants with Sri Lankan governments are still the issues of dispute. In the changing environment of good relations, it is possible to find out the solutions of these problems through the mutual dialogue by both the countries. Besides, emerging regional cooperation of SAARC and the end of international cold war may play the role of aide in this process.

you can view video on India-Sri LankaRelations

Suggested Readings

a) Books/Articles

Amitabh Matto & Happymoon Jacob, Shaping India’s Foreign Policy, New Delhi, Har-Anand, 2010.
C.Raja Mohan, Crossing the Rubicon: The Shaping of India’s Foreign Policy, New Delhi, Penguin/Viking, 1993.
Indra Nath Mukherji and Kavita Iyengar, eds., Deepening Economic Cooperation Between India and Sri Lanka, Asian Development Bank, Mandaluyong City, Philippines, 2012.
Kanti Bajpai & Harsh Pant, eds., India’s Foreign Policy: A Reader, New Delhi, Oxford, 2013.
Lalit Mansingh, et al, eds., Indian Foreign Policy: Agenda for the 21st Century, New Delhi, Konark, 1998. ( 2 Vols.).
Muchkund Dubey, India’s Foreign policy: Coping With The Changing World, New Delhi, Pearson, 2012.
R.S.Yadav & Suresh Dhanda, eds., India’s Foreign Policy: Contemporary Trends, New Delhi, Shipra, 2009.
R.S.Yadav, Bharat Ki Videsh Niti, New Delhi, Pearson, 2013.
Rajiv Sikri, Challenges and Strategy: Rethinking India’s Foreign policy, New Delhi, Sage, 2014.
Ramesh Thakur, Politics and Economics of India’s Foreign Policy, New Delhi, Oxford, 1994.
Rumel Dahiya and Ashok K. Bahuria, eds., India’s Neighbourhood: Challenges in the Next Two Decades, New Delhi, Pentagon Security International, 2012.
S.S. Upadhyay, India and Sri Lanka: Economic and Political Relations, New Delhi, ABD, 2007.
Stephan Cohen, India: Emerging Power, Washington, D.C., Brookings, 1993.
Summit Ganguly, ed., India’s Foreign Policy: Retrospect and Prospect, New Delhi, Oxford, 2010.
V.P.Dutt, India’s Foreign Policy in a Changing World, New Delhi, 1999.

b) Web Links:-