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FORMER INDIAN ARMY CHIEF CHARGES INDIA HAS FAILED TO MEET ITS SRILANKAN OBLIGATIONS WHILE PAYING LIP SERVICEBy Walter JayawardhanaA retired Major General of the Indian Army has severely criticized
Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh’s National Security Advisor for
his blunt statement that proposes to cancel Sri Lanka’s sovereign
right to purchase its weapons from anywhere it wants and says India
has been only paying lip service to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and
territorial integrity without meeting its obligations. Mehta very bluntly said, “As India has underwritten Sri Lanka’s
sovereignty and territorial integrity, it has the moral responsibility
to sort out the mess in that country which endangers its own security.” He said Narayan comes to Sri Lanka when it suits and assures the country’s
unity , sovereignty and territorial integrity. And while in Chennai
after discussions with Tamil Nadu leaders deviates “from the script
by circumscribing Sri Lanka’s autonomy. Among other things, he
said, “we will give whatever (weapons) we think is necessary, and
added: “We are not involved in Sri Lanka’s war but we are
deploying assets for our own security.” He charged that even about coordinated patrolling by the Indian and Sri Lankan Navies there is considerable confusion in the Indian government . Mehta said, “There is considerable confusion still over coordinated patrolling between the Sri Lankan and Indian Navies. Defence Minister AK Antony said in Singapore last week: “ India has made no commitment for coordinated patrolling at this stage though Mr Narayanan has favoured establishing a unified command. All these problems, including the threat to India from Sea and Air Tigers, was discussed at a high-level security briefing last week chaired by the Defence Minister.” Mehta further wrote: “National Security Adviser M.K. Narayan’s
uncharacteristic and unprecedented blunt message to Sri Lanka over seeking
military supplies from China and Pakistan was aimed equally at them.
After his meeting with Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi last month on the
security of the Tamil Nadu coastline and Indian fishermen, in an interaction
with the media, he reminded Lanka that “we are a big power in the
region. We don’t want the Sri Lankan government (SLG) to go to
Pakistan or China . Whatever be their requirements, they should come
to us ” . He added that India would determine the needs and supply
only defensive weapons.” “Compared to Sri Lanka’s subdued official response,”
said Mehta, “there was an uproar in Colombo among the Sinhalese
parties and retired service chiefs. Former Army Commander Gen Hamilton
Wanasinghe said: “ Pakistan and China have helped us in critical
times. India should not tell us they created the LTTE.” Commenting about the indefinitely postponed defense agreement between
the two countries the retired Major General said, “The India-Sri
Lanka Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) has been in the pipeline for
six years. Many Defence Secretaries and Chiefs of Defence Staff from
Colombo have had countless discussions with their counterparts in South
Block but the DCA was allowed to die a natural death. Lanka, though,
has not stopped asking for tanks, guns and aircraft and India has not
budged from its policy of providing only defensive weapons like radars,
mine protection vehicles, body armour and offshore patrol vessels. The
Indian High Commissioner in Colombo has repeatedly told the Sri Lankan
government that only defensive weapons are on offer and Colombo should
keep off China and Pakistan .” Mehta further said, “Events leading to the present episode began with Mahinda Rajapaksa assuming presidency in 2005. On his first visit to New Delhi in 2006, he gave Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a list of military requirements. “As there was no response from the PMO to the President’s wish list, Mr Rajapaksa rang up Dr Singh and sent his brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, at least twice to Delhi where he met the usual lineup: the Defence Secretary, the Service Chiefs, the Defence Minister and Mr Narayanan. It appears he could not obtain a clear response to the President’s list. It was, as is usually the case, neither yes, nor no though Delhi had indicated through its High Commissioner in Colombo some difficulty in supplying offensive weapons. Yet President Rajapaksa, during his second meeting earlier this year with Dr Singh, reminded him of the list he had given him. “Back in Delhi, in the wake of last month’s Tiger air attacks
and amphibious assault on Delft Island, Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa met Mr
Narayanan and reportedly told him that his country needed weapons other
than defensive “urgently” , a request he and his President
had made several times over , failing which they would be forced to
approach China and Pakistan, an option they had exercised earlier. According
to Sri Lankan sources, Defence Secretary Rajapaksa explained the LTTE’s
air threat as well as the latest amphibious attack on Delft Island and
appealed for Indian intelligence inputs as well as a naval blockade
for sea denial of the LTTE. This extraordinary request and an ultimatum
to buy weapons from China and Pakistan rattled Mr Narayanan and led
to his plain-speaking not from Delhi but Chennai.” Speaking about the Indian hegemony in the region Mehta said in 1988
when Nepal clandestinely purchased anti-aircraft guns from China India
imposed economic blockade to that country that triggered the movement
for the restoration of the democracy in that country.
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