A flashback: Indo-Lanka Peace Accord

by Panchamee Hewavissenti

The rationale behind signing the agreement between India and Sri Lanka was the social, economical and political development of Sri Lanka facilitated by India. The agreement was signed by Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi and former Sri Lanka President J. R. Jayewardene in Colombo on July 29, 1987.

Extracts from the Accord are as follows.

1. Recognition of the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. It was the emphasis on the maintenance of ' unity' and 'territorial integrity'.

2. The union of the Northern and Eastern Provinces into a single administrative unit for a period of one year with an elected Provincial Council, a Governor, a chief Minister and a Board of Ministers.

3. Cessation of hostilities throughout the island within forty-eight hours. The surrender of all arms held by Tamil militants, within seventy-two hours to the authorities designated by the Sri Lankan government. Lifting of the state of Emergency in the north and East by 15 August and confining the Sri Lankan army and other security personnel to their barracks, as at 25 May 1987.

4. A referendum to be held, on or before 31 December 1988, in the Eastern Province enabling the Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese residents there to decide whether they wished to be administratively linked with the Northern Province (predominantly Tamil), or constitute a separate administrative unit. A simple majority outcome would suffice.

5. Elections for the new Provincial Councils to be held within three months, those in the North and East in the presence of Indian observers.

6. A general amnesty for all Tamil militants, including those detained or convicted. This was to gain the consent of many Tamil militant groups to the Accord. The declared objective was the rehabilitation of Tamil militants into the mainstream of Sri Lankan polity.

7. Repatriation of 150,000 Tamil refugees from India to Sri Lanka.

8. India was to ensure that its territory was not used for activities prejudicial to the unity, integrity and security of Sri Lanka. Furthermore, India was to provide military assistance and training in order to implement these proposals and to prevent Tamil militant groups from continuing to infiltrate Sri Lanka. Joint naval and coastguard operations would be carried out to enforce this.

Exchange of letters

The letter sent by the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to the Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardena.

Excellency,

1. Conscious of the friendship between our two countries stretching over 2 millennia and more, and recognizing the importance of nurturing this traditional friendship, it is imperative that both Sri Lanka and India re-affirm the decision not to allow our respective territories to be used for activities prejudicial to each other's unity, territorial integrity and security.

2. In this spirit, you had in the course of our discussions agreed to meet some of India's concerns as follows.

i. Your Excellency and myself will reach an early understanding about the relevance and employment of foreign military and intelligence personnel with a view to ensuring that such presence will not prejudice Indo - Sri Lanka relations.

ii. Trincomalee or any other ports in Sri Lanka will not be made available for military use by any country in a manner prejudicial to India's interests.

iii. The work of restoring and operating the Trincomalee oil tank farm will be undertaken as a joint venture between India and Sri Lanka.

iv. Sri Lanka's agreements with foreign broadcasting organizations will be reviewed to ensure that any facilities set up by them in Sri Lanka.

3. In same spirit India will

i. deport all Sri Lankan citizens who are found to be engaging in terrorist activities or advocating separatism or secessionism.

ii. provide training facilities and military supplies for Sri Lankan forces.

4. India and Sri Lanka have agreed to set up a joint consultative mechanism to continuously review matters of common concern in the light of the objectives stated in paragraph and specifically to monitor the implementation of other matters contained in this letter.

5. Kindly confirm, Excellency, that the above correctly sets out the agreement reached between us. Please accept, Excellency, the assurance of my highest consideration.

Your's sincerely, Rajiv Gandhi.

Tamils' response to the Accord

Although the reaction in general of the Tamils in Sri Lanka was favourable, there was a notable reluctance voiced by some groups most mainly the LTTE. Accordingly the failure lay in not discussing the terms of agreement with the LTTE. However in response to such views Jayewardene said that the LTTE were parties to the Accord , but later abrogated it when they broke the ceasefire in October 1987. However the LTTE maintained it was not aware of the inclusions of the accord.

However the euphoria when signing the Accord proved to be short lived. By October 1987, the Accord became obsolete and violence erupted.

In 1988 Premadasa entered in to negotiations with the LTTE. Both parties considered the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) as a foreign army working towards worsening the ethnic conflict. The final result was the IPKF withdrawing from Sri Lanka soil.