A year of good neighbourly ties

Lanka relations gained momentum in 2015 after Maithripala Sirisena's stunning upset win over strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka's polls as the strain in ties gave way to bonhomie with exchange of top-level visits and signing of a nuclear pact.

- asiantribune.com

Sri Lanka witnessed a huge political change in the beginning of this year when Sirisena trounced Rajapaksa in the January 8 presidential race, ending his 10-year-rule.

Just after the elections, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera visited New Delhi on January 18.

In a significant gesture signalling the change of stance, Sirisena chose India for his first overseas visit after assuming office.

Sirisena's visit to India was seen by many experts as a shift in Sri Lanka's orientation towards the US and India, and away from China with which his predecessor Rajapaksa had developed close ties.

First nuke deal

Four bilateral agreements were signed during Sirisena's visit with the most significant being a civil nuclear cooperation pact which Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as "another demonstration of our mutual trust." It was the first such deal signed by Sri Lanka with any foreign country.

Modi toured Sri Lanka in March on the invitation of Sirisena, becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the country after Rajiv Gandhi in 1987.

By travelling to Jaffna, Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister and the third Indian leader to visit the Tamil-dominated former war-zone, after Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

Modi appeared to strike just the right chord with the Tamils in Jaffna. He underlined the need to go beyond the Thirteenth Amendment on devolution of powers in order to politically empower Tamils in the North.

- cis.org.vn

He told the main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that it should help that change takes place and not derail the process.

Modi also raised contentious issues with the government, including the release of Tamil political prisoners and returning the civilian lands used for military purposes.

During his visit here, Modi inaugurated the reconstructed Northern Province railway line as part of India's promise on infrastructure development in the war-ravaged North.

Rajapaksa in August tried to stage a dramatic comeback as prime minister, months after being defeated as president as Sri Lankans voted to elect a 225-member Parliament.

However, Rajapaksa's hopes were dashed as Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) won a closely-fought election to form a National Unity Government.

In September, Wickremesinghe also chose India to be his first overseas destination after being elected to office.

During his visit, the two nations held extensive talks on the sticky fishermen issue, ensuring justice to Tamils and ways to deepen trade and defence engagements besides resolving to intensify cooperation in combating terror and securing the maritime neighbourhood.

Sri Lanka's new leadership seemed to address India's security sensitivities around Colombo's closer ties with China. Sirisena's predecessor Rajapaksa had allowed two Chinese submarines to dock in Sri Lanka in 2014 much to the discomfort of India.

Security sensitivities

Sirisena has also tackled some controversial foreign investments. Plans to build huge casinos were scrapped. The Colombo Port City Project, awarded to Chinese companies, was also put under review.

The new administration also took some important steps towards reconciliation with the Tamil community, including lifting of travel restrictions to the North, release of civilian lands and granting bail to long-held suspects for involvement with the LTTE.

There are plans to establish an independent domestic truth and reconciliation commission to examine atrocities committed during the three-decade-long civil war, as well as to compensate victims. But this still remains a contentious issue.

On the domestic front, the new government successfully allayed concerns of the West, more particularly the US.

In a significant development, India, for the first time, abstained from voting on the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka in March on alleged human rights violations.

This was for the first time since 2009 that India abstained from the voting on the resolution. All three times- 2009, 2012 and 2013 - India voted in favour of the resolution.

There was also a flurry of high-ranking US visits to Sri Lanka beginning from Secretary of State John Kerry's trip in May.

In October, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously recommended a credible probe involving foreign judges and prosecutors into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka's battle against the LTTE, a resolution which was surprisingly co-sponsored by Colombo, despite its strong reservations.

Yet, observers believe delivering the international expectations on accountability to human rights abuses would not be an easy task for the new administration.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe led government of two opposing Sinhala majority parties has to meet international expectations, keep the nationalists led by the Rajapaksa clan at bay, perform economic growth and above all, set in democratic and constitutional reforms.

- PTI