Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri arrived in Sri Lanka on August 5, a historic day in India-Sri Lanka relations. August 5, 1987, is historically significant because it was the day on which, under the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, the LTTE and other Tamil militant groups agreed to surrender their weapons to the Sri Lankan government and enter the peace process. Next year will mark 40 years since the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on July 29, 1987. Against the backdrop of these historic events, the Indian Foreign Secretary visited Sri Lanka, met President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and delivered a message from New Delhi. That message was that the Provincial Council elections should be held.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is no stranger to Sri Lanka. Between 2008 and 2011, he served as Deputy High Commissioner at the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka. He was in Sri Lanka during a decisive period in the country’s political history, when the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa was bringing the war to an end. It was also a period when the DMK, a coalition partner of India’s Congress-led government, was staging protests and hunger strikes in Tamil Nadu, demanding that pressure be brought on the Rajapaksa government to stop the war. On one occasion, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi threatened to withdraw from the Congress-led government if the war in Sri Lanka was not stopped. Vikram Misri served as India’s Deputy High Commissioner in Sri Lanka at a time when India-Sri Lanka relations were particularly tense. At that time, in order to secure India’s support for the war effort, Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to grant the Northern and Eastern Provinces a political settlement going beyond the 13th Amendment immediately after the war ended. Misri was still in Sri Lanka when Rajapaksa failed to fulfil that promise.
He should therefore have a good understanding of the promises made by Sri Lanka’s political leaders. Yet the statement issued by President Anura’s office did not mention that Misri had asked him to hold the Provincial Council elections. When Anura first visited India after becoming President, he made a major effort to ensure that the joint statement did not mention discussions on the Provincial Councils during his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His effort succeeded. The joint statement contained no reference either to the Provincial Councils or to the concerns of the Tamil people. Even after the meeting with the Indian Foreign Secretary, the statement issued by the President’s Office made no mention of the Foreign Secretary’s message calling for the Provincial Council elections to be held.
When Anura visited India for the first time, India may not have wanted to put him in an uncomfortable position. But next month will mark two years since Anura became President. If Anura had understood the message conveyed by Prime Minister Modi by allowing the reference to the Provincial Councils to be omitted from the joint statement, the Indian Foreign Secretary would not have had to come to Sri Lanka and ask that the Provincial Council elections be held.
