'The real change has been in popular attitudes'

Published : Jun 20, 2003 00:00 IST

Interview with Nirupam Sen, India's High Commissioner in Colombo.

Fifteen years after their peace-keeping missions in Sri Lanka, the Indian armed forces are back in the island, but this time for a very different purpose. Responding quickly to a request from Colombo, Indian naval divers and members of the Army medical corps took up relief work to help the flood-hit people of southern Sri Lanka.

Code-named Operation Denim, the relief work was the visible aspect of the shifting emphasis in bilateral relations. The commencement of operations by Indian Oil Corporation, through Lanka IOC, its fully owned subsidiary; modernisation plans for the historic and strategic Trincomalee port's oil tank farm; meetings by Indian corporate leaders with Sri Lankan government and industry representatives; and, at the popular level, a `Made in India' show by the Confederation of Indian Industry, are all manifestations of this change in priorities. Nonetheless, it is India's role in the resolution of the ethnic conflict that will be keenly watched in the island.

As India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Nirupam Sen notes in an interview he gave V.S. Sambandan, the shift in emphasis towards bilateral economic engagement "should really be a model to many of our other neighbouring countries''.

An Indian Foreign Service officer (IFS) since 1969, Nirupam Sen has served in Poland, Hungary, Iceland, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Norway. This is his second stint in Sri Lanka, and it contrasts sharply with his tenure here between 1987 and 1989 as Deputy High Commissioner, during the emotional days of the involvement of the Indian Peace-keeping Force (IPKF) in the country. Excerpts from the interview:

Indo-Sri Lanka ties have traditionally been looked at from the conflict context. There is now a slow but steady redefining, if one may say so. What is the reasoning behind this?

It is a shift in emphasis, not a redefining. In the old days we were directly involved in facilitation and mediation of the conflict. Today that is not the case. We are trying to assist the peace process. This obviously means that what we do now is different. In the past also, we did extend economic assistance, but the scope and range of our economic involvement now is much greater in sweep than what it has been.

Could you elaborate?

Certainly. In the past, we did have a trading relationship. There were some areas where we cooperated - buses, railway coaches. In the field of economic cooperation, we did extend some credits. Today it is on a much wider scale, which fundamentally means it is of a different kind, not just of a different order.

In the past few days, we have come here in a major way in the oil sector. Our Petroleum Minister formally inaugurated the new company, the Lanka IOC, laid the foundation stone for the oil storage tank in Trincomalee... . This again is not a new idea. It was there in the annexures of the Indo-Lanka Accord. It has been discussed earlier, but this is the first time that we have translated this into reality.

RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Services), as you know, is here in the railway sector. We expect a major involvement in power through our public and private sectors. We are far more involved in the economic development of Sri Lanka than we have been in the past.

Given the proximity between India and Sri Lanka, would you see this shifting emphasis as timely or late in the day?

Something is late in the day only if it was possible earlier and was not done. This was not possible earlier, not practicable earlier, to be more precise, for the simple reason that you require a change in attitudes, in popular perceptions.

Both the countries are democracies and unless there is popular backing for a certain course of action, you cannot describe it as practicable. Theoretically, you may conceive of it... .

... So it was dictated more by practicability....

... Yes, because for the first time you have peoples, governments, that are keen to do this. Also, don't forget that the Indian macro-economic shift - the economic reforms - is also a post-IPKF phenomenon. So, in terms of chronology, you couldn't have embarked on this earlier. Similarly, here you had to have a change in popular attitudes, which, I am sure you would have seen, is a new trust in India.

This is something that we have not seen for a long time. Without a government and polity that is committed to close economic cooperation, we could not have embarked upon this.

We also have responded in full measure. This you can see from the rapid assistance that was provided by the Indian armed forces. You have already seen two phases - the naval divers when the waters were high and then the Army medical teams in inaccessible areas. Hopefully we shall have a third phase - assisting in civil engineering.

In the plantation areas, we shall be having three teams - to look at rural education, vocational training centre and a hospital in Hatton. For the Northeast, our cooperation would be in schools, the Jaffna Hospital and shelters for the displaced. Therefore, we on our part have also responded in full measure.

You mentioned popular perceptions. You are also ideally placed to strike a personal note because earlier (when you were here as Deputy High Commissioner) an Indian warship came to Sri Lanka for an entirely different purpose. How do you compare those days to now, both in terms of Indian diplomacy and Sri Lankan perceptions?

In those days there were reservations about India, people here felt that the Indo-Lanka Accord was not discussed by their then government. On the other hand, today the situation is entirely different. Not just the polity, but the ordinary people have also seen that we have no hidden agendas; we have no separate trajectories; we mean precisely what we say when we say that we are committed to the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and to a peacefully negotiated settlement of the ethnic problem, acceptable to all sections of Sri Lankan society.

You think that has happened.

Yes, in a major way. Therefore, this is the right time for a much wider engagement. As I said, it would be completely wrong to say that could have been done earlier. It could not have been. Things are not evolving in a vacuum. We cannot separate something from its wider social, political context, and only when that context is right you can do something.

One instance of wider economic cooperation is Trincomalee oil farm. In the past geo-strategic interests were supposed to have directed Indian interests. How is the situation now?

Our primary purpose now is energy security for Sri Lanka. At the same time it helps us too. For two countries that are net importers of hydrocarbons and have mostly sea-borne trade, it is evident that ultimately questions of energy security cannot be isolated from maritime security as a whole.

Will the way in which the peace process is shaping up have a bearing on this shift in emphasis?

We will continue with our present policy. We will listen to the various parties involved in the peace process. We will give them advice when they seek it. We will do our best to support a peaceful resolution of the conflict through this wider economic and social engagement with Sri Lanka.

Is this shift in emphasis reflective of India's policy towards its neighbours?

The changes in the world - the progress of globalisation, developments in the WTO (World Trade Organisation), the success of various other economic groupings - have had an impact on the realisation that India and Sri Lanka are neighbours and that both would benefit through free exchange.

Now this point you have raised is a very important one because this has a larger bearing on the region as a whole. There were many voices in the middle classes of Sri Lanka who had profound reservations about the Free Trade Agreement, that this would have an adverse impact on the Sri Lankan economy. But, in fact, it has had an opposite impact. For the first time our bilateral trade has reached $1billion. The balance of trade, the key figure really, went over in the last three years from 15.1:1 to 8.5:1 and now to 4.9:1. The figures speak for themselves.

Therefore, this should really be a model to many of our other neighbouring countries. I would not like to name them.

If I may conclude on a personal note, how different is your present stint as High Commissioner from your earlier one as Deputy High Commissioner? If, for instance, you were requested to say three points of difference?

I think the best way of answering your question is not to state anything in terms of a political argument or anything conceptual but simply to bring before you three pictures that illustrate the difference between that time and now.

The first, of course, the IPKF came fully armed. Today you have the naval divers and the Army medical corps helping the flood-affected people. You find the profound impact. I have been particularly touched by some of the editorials and feature articles in some Sinhalese papers, which show the profound impact and the bonds of love and friendship that seem to have been established between our armed forces and the people of the south. At the time of the IPKF, as you know, the south was particularly up in arms. That is one picture that is extremely vivid.

The second, of course, is that at this time you have 12 leading (Indian) MPs visiting Sri Lanka at one time. At the same time, we have CEOs (chief executive officers) of major companies exhibiting their companies' products in Colombo.

Then you have the flood relief, the Army-Navy effort.

On all these three fronts, you have movement - political, economic and social at the same time. I don't think you have any similar picture to show from the time of the IPKF.

One other powerful picture that comes is that at that time you saw the tremendous attack from all quarters of public opinion on the IPKF, which culminated in the then President wanting to send the IPKF back, which really amounted to cutting off the head to spite your nose.

In contrast, there are many political forces, including the Leader of the Opposition, who are in favour of a monument to the IPKF. A monument to those soldiers who laid down their lives so that this country may remain the sovereign, united country.

Fundamentally, I would say that the real change has been in popular attitudes. The ordinary people trust India as a country that would always support the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of this country. Therefore, there has been a marked change in the attitudes of those who are the closest to the people, a large section of the political class and the Buddhist Sangha. Here again you may contrast the demonstrations organised by the Sangha then with the popular support for India among them today.

You would also recall the time when there were popular protests against Indian goods. How do you contrast that with the situation now?

At that time, as you know, some parties banned Indian goods and certainly many Members of Parliament were very annoyed. Today again, it is a very powerful, striking picture that you have all the Members of Parliament travelling in Indian vehicles, imported under the $100-million Indian line of credit. And we hope that the next phase would be the importation of agricultural machinery, irrigation machinery, water pumps, sprinkler and drip irrigation systems, which are badly needed by the Sri Lankan economy.

It is true that the middle class changes slowly. But this is true of educated middle classes anywhere, because they tend to be conservative. These are some contrasting pictures that come to one's mind.

I would prefer to leave it at these pictures and let you draw your own conclusions, rather than give you any kind of political analysis or conceptualisation.

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