India has reportedly conveyed its message to Sri Lanka that it doesn’t appreciate any "third-party" presence-- a euphemism for China--in Sri Lanka's northern and eastern region which is mostly dominated by ethnic Tamils. Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has raised the issue with the Sri Lanka government during his ongoing four-day visit to the country, according to a report in The Hindu newspaper. 

Shringla met on Monday with the leaders of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest grouping of Sri Lanka Tamils of north and east. New Delhi has invested heavily in community development and other infrastructure projects in the region. 

“On Mr. Shringla’s concerns about any third-party presence in the north and east, we told him that we do not want our country to become a Chinese colony,” TNA spokesman and Jaffna legislator M.A. Sumanthiran, was quoted as saying by The Hindu. 

“We said that since the north and east have historic, cultural, and linguistic ties with India, we do not want any other force to change that,” he added.

Significantly, earlier this year, the Sri Lanka government had awarded energy projects to a Chinese firm in Deft island off the Jaffna peninsula, which is just 50 km off India’s Tamilnadu coast. The TNA had even protested against the move, citing “security threats” to the Tamil people and India.

Later, New Delhi had even offered $12 million in grant assistance to the Sri Lankan government to replace the Chinese.

Amid growing Chinese footprint in Sri Lanka under the current ruling dispensation in Sri Lanka, India said in June this year that it expected Colombo to remain “mindful” of their “bilateral cooperation”, including in “maritime domain”, and also added that they were monitoring development from the “security perspective.”  

During the meeting with the TNA, the issue of the provincial council elections, which has been delayed for over 3 years now, was also discussed in the meeting. 

“Foreign Secretary Shringla told us that he has conveyed to the Sri Lankan leadership that provincial polls be held immediately, along with the full implementation of the 13th Amendment,” Sumanthiran said after the meeting. 

Earlier in February this year, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishakar had also raised the issue of the 13th amendment during his visit to the island nation. 

The Rajapaksa government, however, had earlier cited the pandemic and legal hurdles in conducting the provincial council elections--an argument dismissed by the TNA. The legal hurdles, the TNA says, could be removed by introducing a small amendment as also suggested by the Sri Lanka attorney-general.  

Shringla is likely to meet Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapksa before wrapping up his four-day visit.  

(SAM)