‘New Delhi must continue diplomatic nudging rather than hostility’

Wednesday, 4 July 2012 01:14 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Economic Times Editorial: Whatever transpired during the extremely brief visit of National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon to Colombo, ostensibly to deliver an ‘act on the reconciliation front’ message, it is clear that New Delhi has decided to up the ante on Sri Lanka.

The recent Indian vote for the US-backed resolution in the UN Human Rights Council against Lanka was an indication of that. There is increasing room to believe that Colombo is not sincere about giving Tamils and other minorities their due political rights.

So, inserting some displeasure into its relationship with Colombo may not be out of place for New Delhi. But the latter should also continue to choose engagement over any stated or overt hostility.

A balance between requisite nudging over the Tamil issue and diplomacy is the right approach. And that is not solely because a miffed Colombo has been increasing ties with other nations in the region, but also because a palpable hardening of the Indian stance will not serve the interests of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

It might seem hard to fathom why Lanka should not deliver on its own promises of devolution of powers, which the 13th amendment to its own Constitution referred to, and shy away from acting on the recommendations of its own post-war commission.

It could be that the decisive military victory over the LTTE has led to a triumphalism that is a facet of Sinhala majoritarianism, which was the original cause for the decades-long strife. Another reason is that the Rajapaksa clan, and it is a veritable clan dynasty in charge of Sri Lanka, seeks to consolidate that Sinhala chauvinism for political reasons.

Put in bare terms, Colombo wants to delude itself into thinking that the military victory over the murderous LTTE means an end to the Tamil issue and to the death of minority rights.

Hence, it has prevaricated and dissembled on the issue of working on a post-war political resolution. This is plainly myopic, to say the least.

So, rather than react with hostility, it will be better for New Delhi to nudge Colombo to realise that its myopic vision is out of date with the realities of the modern world.