Monday, 7 October 2013 00:00
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DIPLOMATIC exchanges with Sri Lanka and India are always important for obvious reasons. However, the arrival of newly-appointed Foreign Minister Salwan Khurshid this week will see crucial engagement in the post-Northern Provincial Council election era as well as the signing of the Sampur coal power plant agreement.
Battle lines are already being drawn, with the Sri Lankan Government preparing to complain about South Indian fishermen’s damaging poaching in Sri Lankan waters to the European Union. Sri Lanka, which is already under a yellow card along with 11 other countries for unsustainable fishing practices, is hoping that the EU will use its considerable influence to actually push for marine conservation in the Palk Strait.
This is all the more important as Sri Lanka attempts to upgrade its fishing industry and improve deep sea fishing, albeit with the investment of Chinese and Japanese vessels that have thrown up doubts over measureable returns to the local economy and its fishermen. Over the weekend media reports indicated Sri Lanka would initiate sensitive talks with Khurshid to seek at least a reduction in the number of poaching boats as a prelude to a total restriction.
Last week the European Union delegation office in Colombo said it was aware that Indian fishermen were engaged in Illegal-Unregulated-Unreported (IUU) fishing practices, but the delegation had not been formally informed by relevant authorities that the catch was processed in EU-approved factories in Tamil Nadu.
More than 700 Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Navy while allegedly poaching in Sri Lanka’s seas since the start of this year. In desperation, Sri Lanka’s Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne has decided to release the fishermen, but not their valuable boats. This has predictably brought a vitriolic response from Tamil Nadu, that has threatened to delay releasing Sri Lankan fishermen.
An unprecedented event during the Khurshid visit is newly-elected Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members initiating discussions on the thorny fishermen’s issue. As a problem that deeply affects the lives of the northern population, it must become involved with negotiations but has to tread a fine balance so as not to lose its traditional support base in Tamil Nadu.
In what will surely be a crucial test of TNA’s diplomatic prowess, it will have to decisively promote the interests of the people who elected them into power while also maintaining cordial relations with the South Indian Government.
The long-delayed Sampur power plant is another point of concern. While the Power and Energy Minister has confirmed that the agreement will be signed, after the Norochcholai experience, the public will be wary about the efficacy of the plant as well as its economic and environmental repercussions. While the Government may not see these as a stumbling block at this point, they could spawn fresh challenges to relations in the future.
Discussions on power devolution and the 13th Amendment will also feature prominently during discussions with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris. What tone they will take, now that the TNA has taken over the Northern Council, will be the key point that everyone will be watching out for.
