NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will leave on Thursday for Sri Lanka where he will open two Indian consulates, launch a railway project, broach the issue of attacks by Sri Lankan Navy on Indian fishermen and nudge Colombo some more on political concessions for the Lankan Tamils.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will accompany Krishna on trip. He will inaugurate an Indian consulate in Jaffna and one in the southern city of Hambantota, where the Chinese recently helped build a new port which some see as part of Beijing’s “string of pearls’’ being woven to contain India.
Officials, however, trash the argument, claiming that India’s trade and other relations with Lanka were deepening after Colombo won the war against the LTTE in May 2009.
India has pledged `500 crore for relief and rehabilitation of displaced Tamils. In addition, it is helping with soft loans to upgrade railway tracks, develop the Kankesanthurai harbour and Palaly airport in Jaffna. Indians are now involved in projects like vocational centers and hospitals.
In his meeting with Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Krishna is expected to urge Colombo to make use of the opportunity provided by the end of the war to bring about a settlement between the island’s Sinhalese and Tamil communities. India suggests devolution of powers to provinces that go beyond what is promised in the 13th amendment of Parliament.
Rajapaksa has made clear that he is for this kind of devolution but critics say he is moving too slowly.
Krishna is also expected to remind Colombo about the 2008 “arrangement’’ to ensure that their Navies don’t attack fishermen who stray across the maritime boundary.