India will tell Sri Lanka that it has a definite interest in helping the island nation take on reconstruction and will be actively engaged in helping Colombo.This will be the essence of the message that foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and national security adviser M K Narayanan will give to President Mahinda Rajapaksa when they meet him on Wednesday during a day-long visit, the first after the LTTE was militarily crushed.
With a greater engagement in Sri Lanka, not hampered by the complications of an LTTE presence, India ultimately hopes to counter the growing presence of China in its southern neighbourhood. Over the past few years, China has stepped in as one of Colombo's largest defence suppliers after India found itself constrained from giving offensive weaponry and other defence assistance to Sri Lanka for the current conflict.
Naturally, China took advantage of such an opening to expand its influence, seeking and getting a valuable port, Hambantota, in the Indian Ocean.
The government's position and its agenda for talks on Wednesday was shared with Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi who visited the PM on Tuesday.
After the heat of the elections, Karunanidhi's stand on Sri Lanka has been measured, say sources. This will help India expand its role in Lanka in the months and years ahead.
What India will initially be looking for are some quick steps that can be taken by the executive in Colombo — mainly in relief and rehabilitation of the displaced Tamils. India would also be looking for a kind of statement on the future of the Tamils and how Sri Lanka plans to integrate them into the mainstream. Rajapakse did not give a roadmap in his speech to parliament on Tuesday but India will tell him that this would go a long way in getting the international community on his side.
For the present, the international imperative is to assist the Sri Lankans to set up relief and rehabilitation centres for the thousands of displaced persons. India is moving its hospital to Vavuniya and rotating its doctors who have been on duty for over a month now. In addition, India will be sending material for 5,000 shelters which will house about 25,000 people.
The devolution of powers to Tamils itself will take a while because Rajapakse doesn't control the parliament in its present composition. The likes of JVP and other Sinhala nationalist parties will not allow him to work out a generous devolution package even if he wants to. Therefore, Indian officials believe he could actually go in for early elections to get a fresh mandate riding the victory wave.
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