RETURNING to Jaffna last week after three decades, on a visit to see the reconstruction after the end of the brutal civil war, was an emotional experience. My first visit to Jaffna, accompanying the Indian force commander, Lt Gen Depinder Singh, was in October 1987. The sound of AK-47 rifle fire, as our helicopter landed in Jaffna, is etched in my memory. Things were very different now, when I landed at Jaffna’s Palaly Airport. While the wounds of war will take decades to heal, one could not but be impressed at the manner in which things have changed. There is an air of expectation of better times, as Jaffna is now a bustling town, with children cycling to school and the university looking forward to better times. There is an assured supply of electricity and water, and even a brand new hotel full of visitors! Happily, there is now an Indian Consul General in Jaffna, to oversee the comprehensive rehabilitation assistance that India is providing.India’s imaginatively crafted development assistance to Sri Lanka, particularly to the war-torn Northern and Eastern provinces, has been a little publicised success story, which few, even in India, are aware of. India has helped around 46,000 Tamil families to move into new homes. Moreover, rehabilitation assistance has also been extended to small businesses across the Northern Province, together with the establishment of an industrial estate in Jaffna. Indian assistance has included the construction and equipping of hospitals, clinics and water supply projects. Tamil fishermen in the Jaffna Peninsula have been assisted with the supply of boats, fishing nets and cold storages. These fishermen make no secret of their anguish at the manner in which fishing trawlers from Tamil Nadu, equipped with lethal wire nets, are denuding their fishery resources and depriving them of their livelihood by reckless exploitation of their fishery resources. Jaffna residents speak of Indian fishing trawlers operating within sight. This is a genuinely humanitarian issue on which they expect some understanding and support from their brethren in Tamil Nadu.After clearing up the Kankesanthurai harbour and renovating the Palaly airfield, there are now possibilities of Indian investment in converting the Palaly airfield into a hub for tourism across the Palk Straits. Moreover, one cannot but be impressed by the speed and efficiency of the restoration of the railway link to Jaffna from Colombo, with Indian assistance. Power shortages could be addressed soon, if an expeditious decision is taken in Colombo on the long-pending Sampur Power Plant in the Eastern Province, to be built in collaboration with the NTPC. Moreover, there is need for some imaginative thinking on how India can join in regional efforts to make Trincomalee a regional hub, given the fact that it has an interest and role in the development of petroleum storage facilities in the strategically located port. The Petroleum Minister, Mr Dharamendra Pradhan, is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka. This will, no doubt, be an important item on his agenda.Following provincial elections, the Northern Province now has an elected government with a distinguished Chief Minister, Justice Vigneswaran. There are predictably complaints about the need for greater devolution of power to the provincial government. While the government in Colombo is committed to significant political changes, it would be unrealistic for the Tamils in the North to expect a merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces, as virtually the entire Tamil Muslim population has fled to the East and has little interest in living with their erstwhile northern neighbours. Any call for merger of the north and east will be rejected in any referendum by a combination of Sinhalas and Tamil Muslims in the Eastern Province. In the meantime, Sri Lanka seems headed for major constitutional changes. The new Constitution will hopefully address issues, which led to ethnic alienation in the past. The new Sririsena-Wickremasinghe dispensation, which unites both national parties, the UNP and SLFP in Sri Lanka, came together because people across the political spectrum were alienated, by the authoritarian Rajapakse family dispensation. It is to their credit that many of the authoritarian excesses of the previous government have been discarded, through steps, which have won widespread public support. It is still not clear if such a broad coalition will enter the next elections in a similarly united manner. But, the present dispensation has been sensitive to India’s security concerns. This should be acknowledged and reciprocated. While it will be unwise and unaffordable to look at every Chinese initiative in Sri Lanka with suspicion, New Delhi has to ensure that it retains its influence in Trincomalee, while ensuring that China’s presence in Colombo and elsewhere does not pose a security challenge. Sri Lanka has avoided acquiring Chinese-Pakistani JF-17 fighter aircraft. It is prepared to look at acquiring the superior Indian Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) instead. No effort should be spared to ensure that Sri Lanka receives a sufficient number of Indian LCA expeditiously.Trade and investment ties with Sri Lanka are steadily growing. India is today Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner. Investment ties are growing, or set to grow in areas like retail, petroleum and petro-chemicals, tyres, cement and infrastructure. There is now an Indian Consulate and promising prospects for Indian investments in areas like sugar refineries, even in former President Rajapakse’s constituency, the Chinese built port of Hambantota. What one should never forget is that a vast majority of Sri Lankans are devout Buddhists. India could act much more imaginatively in not only cultivating the Buddhist clergy, but also in focusing on its shared spiritual heritage with countries in the Bay of Bengal rim, including Bhutan, Myanmar and Thailand. The next BIMSTEC Summit meeting is to be held in New Delhi later this year. Members — India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand — have a shared Buddhist heritage and developing this entire region as a tourism hub would be of immense interest to the estimated 535 million Buddhist population spread across the world. Heritage tourism is now becoming increasingly popular worldwide. And recent estimates suggest that there are 250 million practicing Buddhists in China alone. Sadly, India has a along way to go before it can be regarded internationally as being an attractive tourist destination, especially in comparison to its eastern neighbours.
