India
has a question for Sri Lanka: How will
India's vote in the UNHRC impact Indo-Lanka relations? It’s a complicated
question and one which prompts multiple answers.
Officially, the Government still
considers India a friendly country. The nature and volume of trade between the
2 countries, especially what SL imports, both in terms of volume and number of
items, makes severing relations hard. The fact that the Indian Parliament did
not choose to pass a resolution against SL will also be factored in:
'face-value' has value.
On the other hand, the Government
will most certainly appreciate Pakistan's friendship and also China's support.
Unofficially, it is likely that the Government will move closer to these two
countries, not so much to 'teach India a lesson' but for pragmatic reasons, of
which the following must be flagged: 'India cannot be counted on'.
If there was a buzz regarding Geneva 2012, this time
around there was hardly a murmur. If
people wondered what India would do last year, this year there was no
doubt. India’s vote was not ‘news’.
Did India, or rather Delhi/Singh, have a choice
though?
First of all, India, having burnt the friendship
boat or rather what was left of it in Geneva in 2012, could hardly be expected
to do a volte face and certainly not
after pandering to the pro-LTTE Sour Grape lobby in India and elsewhere.
Secondly, India, aspiring as it is to break into the
UN Security Council, can hardly afford to annoy the USA, which country tabled
the resolution against Sri
Lanka. Please note that the US
Ambassador’s semantic intervention (resolution ON Sri Lanka and not AGAINST
her) fools no one for at best it smacks of a 21st Century version of
‘White Man’s Burden’. Thirdly, Manmohan Singh and the Congress Party cannot ignore political arithmetic. Whether its Jayalalitha or Karunanidhi that’s calling for accompaniment, Singh has to dance to the Tamil Nadu tune come election time. It is for this reason that Sonia Gandhi had to forgive her husband’s murderer. Perhaps.
Fourthly, nothing that Singh does (against Sri
Lanka) is ‘enough’ for Tamil Nadu because Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi have to
keep upping the stakes as both appeal to the worst sentiments of Tamil
Nationalism to secure and usurp power in that state respectively. Singh was burnt both before and after
Geneva.
Fifthly, Singh has a lot to lose by pandering to
Tamil Nadu, which is why the Resolution on (against) Sri Lanka in the Indian
Parliament was still born.
With all these issues to think of, India is also
harangued by Sri Lanka’s firm friendship with Pakistan and China. Now some may say that India sided with the
USA to ‘send a message to Sri Lanka regarding the growing Chinese “presence” in
the island,’ but when we consider the volatility of the factors Singh has to
take note of, this seems trivial. Singh
is first a politician and then a patriot; like all politicians on may add. If Delhi sided with Sri Lanka and Singh lost
the election, a sojourn in the political wilderness may have seemed too high a
price to pay for not having a lesser Chinese presence in the backyard.
Regardless of all this, and all the tired and
expected noises India is now forced to make about accountability and reconciliation
(by way of the 13th Amendment; read ‘boundary-lining Eelam myths’),
Sri Lanka has to understand Singh’s predicament and read his choice-lack
accurately. The man didn’t have many
options. An option-poor man’s statements
and demands must therefore be viewed with compassion and empathy.
It is better for Sri Lanka to let Singh find cures
for his many political miseries and concentrate on getting things done right
here, in Colombo, Killinochchi, Monaragala and elsewhere, in the Constitution
and the Separation of Powers, with respect to transparency and accountability,
reconciliation and rule of law. This
should be done not because there’s going to be another circus in Geneva a year
from now, but the only way Sri Lanka can resist spoilers from other countries
is to be united. Unity is not obtained by poetry workshops and development
exhibitions, but by a full consideration of what ‘citizen’ means and what has
to be done on all fronts to make citizenship meaningful, to create a Sri Lanka
where citizens feel acknowledged, respected and belonging.
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