Sri Lanka Perspectives – March 2011

Col R Hariharan Retd.

Local government polls

President Mahinda Rajapaksa once again affirmed his political strength when his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)-led United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) romped home winning   205 of the 234 local government (LG) authorities in polls held during the month. [Elections to 64 LG bodies could not be held as legal action is pending after nominations to these bodies were rejected.

As against this, the main opposition United National Party (UNP) could capture only 9 LG bodies as against 31 won in 2006 LG election. The Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) put up a dismal show.

A significan aspect of the poll is the strong showing by the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), earlier known as Tamil National Alliance, winning 12 LG bodies in Tamil predominant areas of East and parts of North. UNP’s former poll ally Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) gained control of 4 LG bodies.

The ruling UPFA coalition polled 3,338,401 votes (55.65%); the UNP obtained 2,032,891 votes (33.89%). The JVP polled only 181,270 votes (3.02 per cent), while ITAK polled 70,171 votes (1.17%) and the SLMC secured 88,592 votes (1.48%).

It is clear that President Rajapaksa’s popularity remains undiminished as evidenced by hat trick of victories he has scored in the presidential, provincial and LG polls successively. The UNP troubled by internal schism has not been able to decide on a charismatic leader who could regain its past glory. And as far as Tamil votes are concerned, ITAK appears to have firm grip and President Rajapaksa will have to strike a bargain with them if he wants to win Tamil support. The JVP’s efforts to further its hold by drumming up support for the jailed former General Sarath Fonseka appears to have failed. It will have to rethink is strategy if it wants to make a comeback. 

The ITAK strengthened by the popular mandate in LG polls, proposes to place a demand before the government to grant the Northern Province police powers besides the right to manage land and forest reservations as listed already in the Concurrent List of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Fishing in Sri Lankan waters

As a sequel to the row between India and Sri Lanka over last month’s ‘arrest’ of more than 100 Indian fishermen who intruded into Lankan territorial waters by Sri Lankan fishermen and their detention in judicial custody in Jaffna, there had been some quick moves from both sides to defuse the situation. A decision was taken when India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visited Sri Lanka in January to organise a meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on Fishing in New Delhi on March 28. It would discuss the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) on development and co-operation in the fisheries sector; the issue of Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters was also likely to come up.

As a part of decision taken to promote understanding of each others’ problem, a delegation of Tamil Nadu fishermen met with their counterparts from north Sri Lanka during March 2011. The Sri Lankan side made it clear that they did not want any Indian fishing in their territorial waters. They said they had just begun fishing after a very long time and their marine resources would be destroyed by bottom trawling of Tamil Nadu fishermen. They did not agree to the request of Tamil Nadu delegation to give more time to stop their entry as they were still undergoing training in Tuna fishing which would allow them to deep sea fishing.

Tamil Nadu fishermen fishing off Sri Lanka coast had been part of their tradition, long before the maritime boundary between the two countries was demarcated in 1974. Continuation of this practice had been a major source of friction between the two countries. After the lifting of ban on fishing off Jaffna and Mannar coast at the end of Eelam war, Sri Lanka’s Tamil speaking Northern fishermen had strongly objected to poaching by Tamil Nadu fishermen. Though at the government level there had been some understanding on the subject of avoiding violence, the Sri Lankan fishermen are in no mood to relent.  

Tamil Nadu fishermen do trawl fishing unlike Sri Lankans who do Tuna fishing in deep sea. As Indian waters have been trawled out they have to go to Sri Lankan waters. Trawl fishing has also damaged the natural habitat of the region. Unfortunately, instead of taking measures to resolve the issue, all political parties in Tamil Nadu had been using it as a populist prop.

Though the meeting in Jaffna ended in an impasse, it is significant that the issue is being tackled beyond politics. The Indian government is training Tamil Nadu fishermen in tuna fishing. Already, fishermen from Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram, Rameswaram and Nagapattinam are being trained in Tuna and deep sea fishing and were now willing to venture into deep-sea fishing and in the process of the learning tuna fishing and other deep- sea fishing techniques. Once they take up deep sea fishing they would not venture into the Sri Lankan waters as it would be less profitable.

The news about the Joint Working Group meeting in New Delhi on March 28 is being played under low key as the ruling coalition is wary of it affecting Tamil Nadu assembly elections. One can only hope, after the elections, measures to resolve the issue would continue to achieve a win-win solution.

In spite of the acrimony, more than 3,000 India fishermen and 10,000 Sri Lankans attended the annual St. Antony's feast in Katchativu Island on March 18 without any incident. Katchativu had been an island of contention between India and Sri Lanka after it became a part of Sri Lanka through the 1974 agreement. This shows the fundamental strength of the relations between the two countries, despite the fishing problem.

War crimes probe

The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, in a video interview said Sri Lanka could be hauled before a war crimes tribunal over the alleged killing of ‘many thousands of civilians’ in the final months of Eelam War IV. However, he said it was ‘preferable’ for Sri Lanka to have its own investigation in line with internationally accepted human rights standards, rather than face an external inquiry.

In a video interview from Washington, Blake said reconciliation, accountability and human rights were among the key elements the US wanted to see to normalise ties with the South Asian nation. Presumably buoyed by this statement, towards the end of the month a delegation led by Global Tamil Forum met Assistant Secretary Robert Blake on the issue of resolution of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. During the meeting the Tamil leaders are said to have highlighted the plight of the Tamil people in the North-East.

However, the President appeared to be unrelenting from his hard line stand that the war crime allegation was an international conspiracy to malign Sri Lanka for its military victory against the LTTE.

Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends, Vol 5 No 2, April 2011
URL: www.security-risks.com