New Delhi and Colombo are discussing a proposal for the supply of two Dornier aircraft for the Sri Lankan military.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister G L Peiris, who met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit K Doval in New Delhi, said: “There is a proposal for the purchase of two Dornier aircraft. There is no finality, nothing has been agreed upon. There are proposals and counter proposals, and it is one of the matters under discussion.”
He said one of the matters discussed during his visit was the upcoming UN Human Rights Council session, where Sri Lanka has been repeatedly hauled up for falling back on its 2015 commitments to address rights violations towards post-war national reconciliation.
His visit comes weeks after India provided an economic lifeline to Colombo that includes a $500-million revolving credit line from Exim Bank of India, a $1-bn credit line for food and pharmaceuticals, a deferral on the settlement of $515 million with the Asian Clearing Union, and a currency swap facility of $400 million.
There was no discussion about the implementation of the 13th Amendment in his meetings, Peiris said. Last month, Sri Lankan Tamil parliamentarians had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking India’s assistance in the implementation of this constitutional provision for devolution of powers that was included during India’s 1987 intervention.
Peiris, who assumed office in August 2021, said relations between India and Sri Lanka had reached a “high point”. India’s concerns about China, which he said had no “rational basis”, had been “consigned to the past”. However, he flagged the fishermen’s issue between the two countries as “the one flashpoint”, requiring “urgent attention”.
He said Sri Lanka and India were now seeking to “transform the character of the relationship, elevating it from a transactional level to strategic partnership”. One of the main elements of this, he said, would be through “closer integration of the economy of India with that of Sri Lanka” in sectors such as ports, energy, tourism and hospitality, and pharmaceuticals.
The two sides, he said, were planning a joint working group during the visit by Jaishankar in the second half of March, that would include the two foreign ministers, the two fisheries ministers, and possibly some representation from Tamil Nadu.
Indian official sources confirmed that the two sides were in “very early” stage discussions on the supply of the two Dornier aircraft.
Sri Lanka and India are looking at “closer integration” of their economies in sectors such as ports, energy, tourism and hospitality, and pharmaceuticals. Also on the table is a plan for a joint working group that will include the foreign ministers and fisheries ministers of both countries, and possibly some representation from Tamil Nadu.
The Dornier is a twin-engine multi-purpose aircraft, used by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard for maritime surveillance. It is also used by the Indian Air Force. It is manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd under licence from Swiss company RUAG, and is a showpiece of the government’s “Make In India” programme.
The proposal for India to transfer a maritime surveillance aircraft to Sri Lanka has existed for four years, but with the chill in relations in the recent past, the matter was never seriously discussed.
The Dornier aircraft were among 23 from the IAF fleet that took part in a flypast and aerobatics display during the Sri Lankan Air Force’s 70th anniversary in March 2021. At that time, the Indian High Commission said Sri Lanka was “Priority One” for India in the defence sphere.
Peiris said his government and New Delhi were looking to finalise more immediately a memorandum of understanding on an Indian $15-million fund for the refurbishment of Buddhist temples, and another agreement on collaboration between the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service and the Colombo-based Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute. Another proposal under discussion is for India to supply a 4,000-metric tonne floating dock.
Sri Lanka is “hoping”, Peiris said, that Prime Minister Modi will be able to attend in person the BIMSTEC summit which it is hosting this year as the chair of the grouping. The summit is to be held in the hybrid format.
“There’s so much that has happened during the last few months that there could be a real substance to that visit,” he said.
The decision on whether to invite the leader of the Myanmar junta that seized power in a coup last year would have to be “collegial”, and Sri Lanka would consult all other members of the regional grouping including Bangladesh and Thailand.
Peiris said Sri Lanka was “in close touch” with India on the upcoming UNHRC session, at which Commissioner Michelle Bachelet is scheduled to present a second draft report on Sri Lanka. The first, presented last year, was a searing criticism of Sri Lanka’s failure to address post-war issues, and the emergence of new challenges such as the marginalisation of the Muslim minority along with the Tamils.
“India is very much aware of all the progress that has been made in the recent past, particularly with regard to the work which has been done on the ground by the so called local mechanisms, such as the Office on Missing Persons, Office for Reparations, Office for National Unity and Reconciliation, the Sustainable Development Goals 16 Council and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka,” he said.
In November 2019, Sri Lanka withdrew from the co-sponsorship of a 2015 UNHRC resolution committing it to undertake several steps towards addressing ethnic reconciliation, including through justice for rights violations, tracing missing persons and reparations to the Tamil community.
Peiris said the resolution pitted Sri Lanka against its own armed forces, and that is why President Gotabaya Rajapaksa withdrew from its co-sponsorship. But, he said, there were steps that Sri Lanka was taking on its own, including reform of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He described as “unfair” the criticism within Sri Lanka that the reforms were insufficient.
Earlier this month, Sri Lanka released a Muslim lawyer controversially arrested under the PTA after the 2019 Easter bombings. Peiris dismissed suggestions that these steps were being taken as Colombo was worried about punitive action by the European Union like withdrawing preferential tariffs under the Europe Generalised System of Preferences Plus scheme for Sri Lankan exports.
He said his government was confident that this would not happen, but in the “unlikely” scenario that it would be withdrawn, it would hurt the most vulnerable sections of Sri Lanka’s people, including women in the garment industry and fishing communities.
“So if you take it away, it is not a punitive measure against the government, it is a punitive measure directed against the poorer sections of the Sri Lankan community, least able to bear that added burden. It simply makes no sense,” he said.
Source: The Indian Express
