India Srilanka Relation

AMITY UNIVERSITY
INDIA – SRI LANKA

RELATION
INTRODUCTION
 The relationship between these two countries is more
than 2500 years old.
 Srilanka is the nearest nation neighbour of India . It is
just 30 nautical miles away from India.
 There are deep historical & cultural link between these
two countries.
 India is the only nation separated by the palk strait.
 Both India and Srilanka are republics within the
commonwealth of nations.
 Both countries are of south Asia present in indian
ocean & tried to maintain peace and stability in ocean.
 Both countries took part in non- alignment movement.
 Both countries are of south Asia present in indian
ocean & tried to maintain peace and stability in
ocean.
 Srilanka was established as a country after
European colonialism, but was before part of
various indian kingdoms .
 The majority of people of srilanka are Tamils and
Sinhalese(followers of Buddhism) .
 Other population of srilanka are Muslims, sindhis,
yahudis , or parsis & other indian community.
 There are some differences between them due to
rise in sinhalese nationalism in 1949.
 The cultural and trade ties between sri lanka is very
strong.
Factors decide Indo-Srilanka
relation
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 POLITICAL RELATIONS
 TRADE RELATION
 GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION
 CULTURAL RELATIONS
 CONFLICTS AN ISSUE
Historical background
 The relation between these countries have started
in ancient history from the time of Ashoka.
 He sent his children to promote buddhism in
srilanka.
 After that the tamils ,of chola empire were shifted
around the ruling areas and now they are called as
SRILANKAN TAMILS.
 As both were the colonies of BRITAIN , there the
policies of british govt.can be seen (ex. Divide and
rule policy )
 Indians tamils were also migrated for tea
plantation in eastern and northern part of srilanka
and by this, they maintained their relation with
india.
 Britishers promote tamils in education and jobs
and britishers didn’t give opportunity to sinhalese
in education and jobs .
 Due to this sinhalese faced lots of disparities .
 In1948 , srilankas got independence from britain.
 In 1949, indian plantation workers disenfranchised
which was the starting wave of sinhalese
nationalism.
 For maintain relation with srilanka , indian prime
minister Nehru forced for HINDI as a national
language.
 After that sinhalese established Parliamentary
Rule ( democratic form of govt.) and they declared
sinhalese language as a official language.
 Due to these differences the relation got disturbed.
 in 1956 , srilanka govt.passed `sinhalese only bill’
for internal politics.
 By this the problem of tamil migrants emerged in
india
 In 1960s some tamils protested against these
policies.
 In 1962, indo – china war started and in this
Srilanka didn’t declare china as a aggressive
nation .
 That time Bhandar's govt was in rule and they
gave more importance to china.
 In 1964 Shastri and naikey signed an agreement on
the issue of migrants.
 During indo-pak war srilanka maintained neutral
path .
 In 1972 , constitution favored the Sinhalese
language and Buddhist religion along with their
educational policies, due to this Tamils perceived
themselves as a marginal community.
 As a result of open discrimination , in 1976
Liberation Tigers of Tamils Elam was formed to
fight for Tamil rights and in 1983 civil war
started.
 The bilateral relations between india and srilanka
became worse in 1980s with a rising of the tamil
militant separatism in srilanka .
 In 1987 with the objective of improving the ties,
Indo- Sri lanka Accord was signed.
 India deployed Indian Peace Keeping Force to
perform a peacekeeping which is also known as
Operation PawaN, which resulted in
assassination of PM.
 IPKF was withdrawn as it failed to defeat LTTE.
 In 2009 ,25 years of violence ended when srilankan
govt seized the area controlled by the tamil tigers
rebels.
 The pro-LTTE govt in tamil nadu influenced the
decisions of central govt.
 The relationship again started becoming worse
when india voted against sri lanka in 2009, 2012 &
in 2013 at the US – sponsored UNHRC resolution
to investigate human rights violation by the state
against the tamil rebels.
Trade Relation
 Sri lanka is india’s second largest trading partner
in SAARC.
 Both countries signed FTA in 1998, which
facilitated increased trade relations between the
two countries.
 Sri lanka has long been a priority destination for
direct investment from india.
 Economic and Technological Cooperation
Agreement (ETCA) : it facilitate trade in services,
investments and technological cooperation.
Cultural Relation
 The people of indian origin comprise sindhis, gujratis ,
parsis and telugu speaking persons who have settled in
sri lanka.
 Though their numbers are much lesser as compared to
Indian Origin Tamils , so they are economically
prosperous & are well settled.
 The cultural cooperation agreement has been signed
between both the countries.
 Buddhism is a connecting link between india and sri
lanka on religious lines.
 Education is another important area of cooperation.
 Tourism also forms an important link and india is the
largest source of market of for sri Lankan tourism.
Conflicts & Issues
 Fisherman problem: Fishing disputes have been a
constant area of concern between the south as an
neighbors for a long time.
 Srilanka has long expressed concerns about illegal
fishing by indian fisherman within its territorial
waters across the Palk Strait.
 The country regularly arrests indian fisherman for
crossing IMBL ( international maritime boundary
line ).
 India also detains sri Lankan fisherman for the
illegal fishing.
 STRATEGIC ISSUES: In the period of low profile
relationship between the two nations ,srilanka
started favoring china.
 The presence of china in srilanka increased
significantly in recent years.
 As a part of Maritime Silk Route policy , china
built two ports , one in Colombo and another in
Hambantota.
 China has also collaborated in satellite launching
activities with Supreme SAT (pvt.)
 INDIA’S EFFORTS TO COUNTER CHINA : In
2014, India abstained from voting on a UNHRC
resolution.
 In a sign of a closer strategic partnership between
sri Lanka and India, both signed civil nuclear
cooperation agreement .
 By the rise of china’s economic dominance , India
is also entering into sri Lanka’s mega project .
 India is also planning to build Trincomalee port
( port to counterweight chinese development at
Hambantota port) .
 Katchatheevu Island : It is an unhabitated island
that india surrender to sri Lanka in 1974 , based
on a conditional agreement called ` Kachchativu
Island Pact ‘.
 Later on , sri lanka declared this as a sacred land.
 The central govt. recognizes sri Lanka’s
sovereignty over the as per the 1974 accord.
 Nowadays, Tamil Nadu claimed that this island
falls under the Indian territory and Tamil
traditionally believed that it belongs to them .
Conclusion
 India shares a common cultural and security space
with the countries in the south Asian region
especially sir lank .
 Progressive trade & economic ties is the key to
prosperity in India Srilanka relations and the free
trade agreement acts as a catalyst to address this
solution.
 India needs support of Srilanka to emerge as a
blue water navy in the Indian ocean.
 Also in pursuing the permanent membership of
UNSC.
 Both countries should recognize the legitimacy of
each others concerns and operate in a way which
is mutual beneficial.
 one of the biggest challenges for Indian
diplomacy in the subcontinent is to persuade its
neighbour that India is an opportunity and not a
threat.
 Srilanka recovering stable polity and growing
economic ties with India is an example of
cooperation among mature democracies.

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AMITY UNIVERSITY

INDIA – SRI LANKA

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