Inder Kumar Gujral is the most experienced minister in the Deve Gowda United Front government. He held a number of portfolios in Indira Gandhi's government and served for a period as India's ambassador to the Soviet Union before joining the Janatha Dal led by Vishwanath Pratap Singh. In V. P. Singh's National Front government of 1989-90, Gujral became India's minister of external affairs.
Indo-Lanka relations had, at that time, reached a low water-mark. Sri Lanka's President Ranasinghe Premadasa had been feuding with Congress prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on the withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) from Sri Lanka. The de-induction of the IPKF had been resumed but India has said that the withdrawal could not be completed before the end of March 1990. Premadasa was impatient and suspicious. "Tell the Indian government to pull the troops out by the end of December 1989," he told me, his High Commissioner to India. "In any case they must go before Independence Day 1990, so that we could celebrate the anniversary of our Independence without the presence of foreign troops on our soil."
When Gujral assumed office as minister of external affairs in December 1989, I telephoned him to extend my congratulations. In accepting my good wishes for a successful term of office, Gujral assured me that in future, India's relationships with Sri Lanka would be "more friendly, more positive." He added, "Please convey that to your government." Gujral did everything possible to persuade reluctant Indian ministry of defence officials to move the IPKF out of Sri Lanka as early as possible. In the event, the last contingent of Indian troops left from Trincomalee on 24 March 1990, one week before the 31 March deadline. It was Gujral's efforts at fence-mending that started Indo-Lanka relations back on its traditional friendly path.
Gujral has always shown a special affection for Sri Lanka and her people. He was a regular participant in the discussions in the Indo-Sri Lanka Forum which I convened in New Delhi. In 1991, when he was out of office, Gujral visited Sri Lanka and interacted enthusiastically with academics and opinion makers.
Thrust of India's foreign policy
When Deve Gowda's government took office in June 1996, 10 out of the 21 ministers sworn-in, had not served in any previous government. Gujral, 77, had the most experience in governance. At his first interview with the magazine "India Today", Gujral explained the thrust of his foreign policy. "I am a strong believer in regional co-operation," he said. "With the Indian economy being the largest in the region, I am willing to give more than I take. The central shift from my predecessors will be that I am not an advocate of the quid pro quo. I believe that larger nations must have larger hearts also."
True to his word, addressing a joint press conference with minister Lakshman Kadirgamar at the Colombo Taj on the conclusion of his visit to Sri Lanka, Gujral said, "I am prepared to take the first step to move forward in the context of Indo-Sri Lanka relations (economic and otherwise) without expecting anything in return." He continued, "India will do its best for Sri Lanka and whatever possible will be done." These sentiments, when implemented, will earn for India the appreciation, goodwill and respect of her neighbours. Sri Lanka, for her part, should assure India that, while pursuing her own national interests, she will be sensitive to India's national security concerns and will do nothing to irritate or embarrass India.
Even more significant was Gujral's firm assurance that India did not wish to interfere in the internal problems of Sri Lanka. When a delegation of five Tamil parties pleaded for Indian intervention in Sri Lanka's ethnic problems with a view to evolve a negotiated settlement, Gujral politely gave the delegation a patient hearing and categorically refused to involve India in what he strongly believed was an internal problem of Sri Lanka. Gujral could not have been more categorical about India's position. There can be no doubt that the Indian government is concerned with the on-going conflict in Sri Lanka and its effect in Tamil Nadu, the home of some 55 million Tamils. When asked whether it was not in the best interest of India to see that the conflict in Sri Lanka was settled, Gujral replied that while it is in fact in India's national interest that the conflict settles down, it is also in her national interest that India does not interfere. All Sri Lankans who wish to see a fair and just resolution of the conflict will agree.
There was a time when Indian leaders expressed their concern only for "the safety and security of the Tamil people". That was a mistake. The Tamils of Sri Lanka are Sri Lankan citizens, the responsibility and concern of the government of Sri Lanka. India should show an interest in all Sri Lankans, both Tamil as well as Sinhalese, Muslim and others. Minister Gujral struck the right note both at his meetings with the press and at the lecture that he gave at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies.
Nothing useful can be gained by dwelling unduly on the past. Both India and Sri Lanka have come a long way from the days when Tamil militants were provided military training, arms and funds in India. At that time, Sri Lankan Tamil politicians sought asylum in India and received the sympathy and attention of Indian leaders, particularly those in Tamil Nadu. It is to the credit of India's present leaders, like Gujral, that they believe Sri Lankans should be left alone to solve their own problems. Questioned about how India's relations with Sri Lanka may alter, when there is concern with the DMK being a major constituent in the United Front, Gujral told India Today' some time ago, "It is not going to affect our relations. The LTTE was not built by the DMK. I will not name who built it but those people are sitting in Delhi. So why should we confuse things?"
An Indo-Sri Lanka Friendship Treaty?
Suggestions have been made for an Indo-Sri Lanka Friendship Treaty. A friendship treaty with India was first mooted in January 1988 by President Jayewardene. This was designed to replace the "letters" in the Rajiv-JR. Accord of 29 June 1987, which Sri Lanka felt addressed some of India's perceptions of her own security interests but were an unfair imposition on Sri Lanka, compromising her sovereignty and lacking in reciprocity. President Premadasa, in his election manifesto, had promised to seek a Friendship Treaty with India "on the line of the Indo-Soviet Friendship Treaty". Drafts and counter drafts were exchanged between India and Sri Lanka in 1990. No agreement could be reached, there were sharp differences of opinion and the exercise was abandoned. As one Indian newspaper correspondent remarked "Friendship was more important than a Friendship Treaty."
The Indo-Sri Lanka agreement of 29 July 1987 is now defunct. Hostilities in the north and east have not ceased. A referendum has not been held in the eastern province to decide whether the merger of the north and east should continue. Some of the items agreed in the letters' are no longer relevant. A treaty of friendship to underscore the understanding that has developed between the two countries since then might be useful. However, both India and Sri Lanka must genuinely feel the need for such a treaty that will help define Indo-Sri Lanka relations for a long time to come.
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