Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said yesterday that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was ‘in a way right’ when he said that he had fought India’s war since it was the LTTE that had killed Rajiv Gandhi and also because the security of Sri Lanka was interlinked with that of India.
“India would not remain a safe place if Sri Lanka’s security is threatened, as the spillover effects of terrorism always put the security of those who are around in danger” said Mr. Menon.
Speaking to a group of visiting Sri Lankan editors, Mr. Menon said that India and Sri Lanka had both learnt lessons the hard way and India now looked forward to Sri Lanka’s prosperity since the financial stability of its neighbours was vital for India’s stability and prosperity. Citing the issues that India faced due to the growing instability in Pakistan, he said one could not expect Indian Punjab to be stable if there were abject poverty, unemployment and security issues in Pakistani Punjab.
He emphasised that the 3 next move of Sri Lanka towards national reconciliation was something that Sri Lanka should explore and “it is neither the job of India nor of Norway to prescribe what is best for Sri Lanka”.
“I am quite impressed by what President Mahinda Rajapaksa has explained as his plan towards this. India will always back him in whatever decisions he thinks best suited for Sri Lanka” he said.
Responding to a question on Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka, he said a couple of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) seniors were present in Delhi at the time he was talking to the Sri Lankan editors.
“They have various contacts in Delhi with whom they have been having informal dialogue on and off. As far as I know they don’t have an appointment with the Prime Minister” said Mr. Menon, adding that Sri Lankans should not read their presence as a cause for alarm.
On the long overdue, proposed, Defence Pact between India and Sri Lanka he said it should take its natural course.
Commenting on the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora’s attacks on Indian embassies, he said the Indian diaspora “did not take that well at all”.
Claiming that the war in Sri Lanka had made Indo-Sri Lanka media reports ‘mono-focused,’ Mr. Menon said that he hoped there would be a diversification of subjects now that the war was over.
“Sri Lanka has a huge market here in India. It should exploit the opportunities. Also we should work together in many areas, like garment industry, where Sri Lanka is known for its expertise on high end products, whereas we are known for lower ends due to cheap labour. Together we can do wonders” he said optimistically.
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