When was srilanka was part of india

In fact for most part of Britain's control of the Indian Ocean, Indians were discouraged from obtaining any maritime influence. One of the factors was that the colonisation of India rested essentially on the maintenance of sea communications with Britain.

The British government could not afford to risk this link through the expansion of the Indian navy. To a number of Indian naval officers, it was strange that foreign British nationals not only had total access to operational and planning secrets, but regularly sent reports of sensitive nature of their superiors in London. The influence of British naval officers on Indian naval policy, meanwhile continued till mid 60s.

In fact Panniker himself had spoken of the importance of Indo-British naval cooperation for Indian security, keeping in view the inability of the Indian navy, in terms of its strength to assume supremacy of even its own territorial waters.

This was in contrast to the capabilities of the British navy which had continental reach and responsibility and in that sense successfully guarded the interests of British India.

He strongly believed that the threat to India since the sixteenth century was primarily from the sea and that it would be so in the future also. He thus brought out the vulnerability of India's maritime assets. Such views of common defence policies were expressed by other Indian leaders and thinkers also. However, it is seen that many in Sri Lanka viewed such policies as part of an expansionist agenda on the part of India, against which effective measures had to be taken. Seen in the above background, following independence, both India and Sri Lanka had close linkages with the British.

While the Indian interests were specifically limited to the navy, the Sri Lankan side had a much wider ranging agenda and interests to be looked after. However, Sri Lanka being an island nation, the spotlight while dealing with the external threat was to be on the naval aspects and the threats from the sea.

Examined in the background of the close cooperation both the countries proposed to have with the British, there actually seemed to be no real threat, though such a threat was perceived. If Indian thinkers had been slightly more refined in articulating their concerns, may be much of the ill will could have been avoided.

Immediately after independence, even if the Defence Pact was to be invoked by Sri Lanka with reference to perceived threats from India, problems would surely have arisen regarding implementation. In December it was agreed in principle that the bases would be handed over to Sri Lanka. This school of thought holds that the SLFP led administration followed the 'pilot fish' policy vis a vis India. According to this the essence of the UNP policy was not to be accommodative to the wishes and concerns of India but pursue a divergent and not confrontationist or deliberately troublesome policy.

On the other hand, the 'pilot fish' policy essentially means keeping close to the shark to avoid being eaten, aimed at redressing the imbalance of power without provoking India.

The policy contained elements of accommodation without being conformist. Sri Lanka under SLFP had allowed refuelling of Pakistani planes carrying military personnel to suppress the struggle for liberation.

Indian support as is well known, lay with the Bangladesh liberation forces. Sri Lanka justified its action by stating that the Pakistani flights in question were civilian as they were PIA flights carrying people in civilian dress. Sri Lanka maintained a neutral position during this war and also did not accord recognition to Bangladesh immediately. Some opinions in Sri Lanka hold the view that India's main interest in the island nation in the late s and early s was regarding the increasing Chinese influence in the island.

Sri Lanka had entered into a maritime agreement with China in and India expressed serious concern on the Sino-Sri Lanka maritime agreement as it suspected strategic underpinnings, at least from the Chinese side. At the dawn of independence differing perceptions were there regarding not only security but also other important aspects.

The colonial powers had since the s brought labour from mainland India to work in the island's plantations. The leaders of India and Sri Lanka since had been discussing the issue of citizenship of these Indian Tamils.

Strong differences arose from both the sides and a solution seemed to evade them. It was only in following the Sirimavo-Shastri Pact that a mutually acceptable solution was sighted. According to this, a formula was devised spelling out the number of people who would be given Indian citizenship and repatriated to India and those who would be given Sri Lankan citizenship. Later another agreement was concluded in In the Sri Lankan government addressed the question by enacting the Grant of Citizenship to Stateless Persons Special Provisions Act which sought to settle the residual issues arising from the earlier agreements.

All these discussions had however led to a lot of bitterness. Another important issue was the dispute of the possession of an uninhabited island 'Kachchathivu' located almost midway between India and Sri Lanka in the Palk Strait. The controversy was resolved in when the two countries concluded an agreement demarcating the maritime boundary. As per the agreement the disputed island fell within the Sri Lankan side of the boundary.

A further maritime boundary agreement was concluded in India promptly responded by sending five frigates to seal off approaches to Colombo. In addition, India's military assistance also included military equipment, six helicopters with pilots for non combat duties and about Indian troops to guard the Bandaranaike airport.

India's action was prompted by the desire to protect the democratic system and domestic stability of Sri Lanka. Other countries also assisted with arms, ammunition, spare parts, etc. India was initially only concerned with the issue of the Indian Tamils in Sri Lanka as mentioned above.

The issue of the Sri Lankan Tamils did not concern it initially for they had acquired through the years an independent historical identity different from Indian Tamils the indigenous Tamils, constitute nearly 12 per cent of the islands population.

It was since the late s that the growing differences between Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese had its repercussionss on the Indian people and polity, especially of Tamil Nadu. The ethnic riots of July 24, , which led to the exodus of refugees into Tamil Nadu and other security concerns, changed the course of the Indian attitude and resulted in Indian involvement through mediation. To meet the difficult situation following the riots, Sri Lanka proposed to adopt a military solution to the problem.

Thus a series of steps were taken whereby Sri Lanka approached other countries for political and military help. India was not asked for similar help as its sympathies lay with the Sri Lankan Tamils. These moves of Sri Lanka resulted in isolating India in the region and facilitating the strategic presence of the forces inimical to India's perceived security interests. As stated at the outset, Sri Lanka in itself was not a threat to India but the latter feared that by these measures the island nation would not only become a seat for outside influences but also be pulled into the cold war politics.

However a Sri Lankan point of view is that President Jayawardene was not playing superpower politics but was merely transforming Sri Lanka's hitherto largely ceremonial security forces into a real fighting force. In its interactions with the rest of the world, Sri Lanka brought out that there existed a threat to its unity and integrity posed by Tamil terrorism working with the support and encouragement of the government and people in India and that there would be a direct military invasion by India for the creation of an independent sovereign Tamil state.

After July , the government of Sri Lanka sought military training assistance from Pakistan as it felt that in India, they were not getting the best of training. A Pakistan navy ship made a goodwill visit to Sri Lanka in the first week of August Sri Lanka government secured the assistance of the world famous Israeli intelligence agencies, Mossad and Shin Bet to strengthen its own intelligence set-up and military training facilities. This view thus holds that, such events made Israeli assistance vital and amenable for Sri Lanka.

Subsequently Israeli agents operated under the cover of agricultural instructors. Sri Lanka also received sizeable and cheap military supplies from China. It was not just the military assistance which Sri Lanka was seeking from the international community which aroused Indian anxieties.

Sri Lanka accommodated certain strategic interests of the other countries, which India felt would pull Sri Lanka into the cold war calculations. These strategic interests included,. The visit of US naval ships for refuelling and crew rest and the statement by Special Envoy of the US President, General Vernon Walters that US would be satisfied if Sri Lanka permits sailors some short leave crew rest and that the ships could remain in high seas for long periods. The contract for the renovation and expansion of refuelling facilities at the strategic harbour of Trincomalee, the World War II vintage oil-storage tank farm, was awarded to a Singapore-based private consortium with suspected US links, after the bids by India which were supposed to be the lowest were rejected.

Following India's protest, Sri Lanka had to finally cancel the contract and reopen for tenders. The Indian concerns were the maximum, regarding the establishment of a powerful Voice of America transmission facility, expected to be the largest of its kind outside USA.

Indian fears arose from the possibility that the facility could serve as a high-tech outfit to monitor naval and land communications and movements in the region including India. This facility could also beam high frequency messages to US submarines deployed in the Indian ocean region.

It was during this time that the President of Sri Lanka made the assertion that the defence pact with Britain entered in still remained intact, which was technically correct because in , only the bases were closed and the pact itself was not abrogated.

The emphasis of the pact at a time when India was concerned about its security concerns only raised suspicions. India had to take definitive action in response to these developments.

It had to create circumstances whereby the external influence had to be reduced. Thus it started with mediation efforts, but it did not make much definitive progress. The Sri Lankan government continued with the military option. It had three aspects to it. The first deals with the mechanisms to address the Tamils issue; the second goes into certain details of the main agreement; the third, which is crucial to the topic under discussion refers to the security concerns of India and Sri Lanka and their understanding to respect each other's concerns.

These are not in any way related to the Tamil issue and have given rise to the criticism that the aim of India was primarily to address its security concerns and not the Tamil issue. However, it is the vulnerability of Sri Lanka pending a solution to the issue which is a cause of concern for India. According to the letter the Indian concerns which Sri Lanka has agreed to meet are: The relevance and employment of foreign military and intelligence personnel with a view to ensuring that such presences will not prejudice Indo-Sri Lankan relations.

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. Through a joint venture between India and Sri Lanka the work of restoration of Trincomalee oil tank will be undertaken.

Sri Lanka will ensure that facilities set up by foreign broadcasting organisations will not be used for any military or intelligence purposes. The cooperation which the Indian government expected from the LTTE in complying with the provisions of the accord was not forthcoming.

The period till March , when the IPKF was withdrawn has been a difficult period for both countries. It is essential to appreciate that the IPKF had a difficult task to fulfil, since it was not fighting an enemy which it had orders to annihilate. In fact prior to the withdrawal of the IPKF, it is reported that the situation had taken a strange twist whereby the LTTE was getting military supplies and support from the Sri Lankan government.

It was only after the withdrawal of the IPKF, that bilateral relations began to move towards normalisation. India has since then adopted a non intrusive approach towards the ethnic problem in the island country. It favours a negotiated political solution to the problem. Since then the focus has shifted to cooperation in the economic areas. This has intensified following the coming to power of Chandrika Kumaratunga.

The links which the LTTE has with the non state actors in India is an issue of great concern to the latter. LTTE in its present form has developed a global reach in terms of funds and technology having linkages with non state actors at an international scale. An important question which arises is whether the situation presently existing in the island nation does not constitute a threat to India. What is the relevance of India's security concern as they existed in the mid 80s which prompted India to involve itself in the Sri Lankan crises first in the capacity as a mediator and later through IPKF?

The question can be answered by examining the reasons generally given in the 80s to justify India's action and its significance presently. One of the reasons was that India's actions were motivated by its desire to preserve its own unity.

The Sri Lankan Tamils attempt at secessionism if proved successful could influence the Indian state of Tamil Nadu which in the past had been one of the first to demand secession from India. It is in this respect that the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka was of utmost importance to India. Accompanied with this was the need to respect the sentiments of the 50 million Tamil citizens of India who were sympathetic to the plight of the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

However, events since then have shown that the LTTE itself has been intransigent in its approach. The brutal assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE has influenced the views not only of the fifty million Tamil citizens of the state of Tamil Nadu but the nine hundred million population of the entire country in India.

What was since then something remote happening down south not relevant to the vast majority of the people, soon became an issue of great concern whereby it was clear that the support did not lie with the activities of LTTE. It is in deference to these sentiments that India can be said to have adopted a non intrusive approach.

Further the confidence with which India went ahead in the mediatory efforts in and later in by being a party to the Accord was because of its influence on and in some sense the control that it had over the various Tamil groups to take the negotiations in a particular direction. But the LTTE of the nineties is qualitatively different, being much more powerful in terms of its access to funds and technology and arms and ammunitions which at times are far superior to those held by the Sri Lankan security forces.

LTTE has developed extensive contacts with terrorist groups all over the world and in this manner has an extensive network. A realistic approach clearly shows that, given the past experience, India involving itself in the island nation in such circumstances could be a long drawn out affair without any tangible benefits.

In fact, a convergence of approach from both the countries is required to tackle this challenge of linkages of non state actors. Following the riots of , the external help which Sri Lanka sought and received has already been discussed above. These events took place in the background of the cold war and India feared that Sri Lanka was being drawn into it.

Seen from this prism, the actions of the island nation had grave consequences for India's security. The international environment since then has changed drastically. Sri Lanka's present military build up to meet the internal threat is thus being seen in a different context. There is growing international concern to the ethnic crisis, and as a reflection of this Norway may soon act as a facilitator between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE.

Most important, any settlement to the crisis will bring in stability to the island nation. The crisis had also shown to Sri Lanka, especially after the Indian action in June whereby relief supplies were dropped on Jaffna by air under the cover of Indian air force planes, that the international support it was depending upon especially from the USA did not come forth.

Responses from other major Western powers were also moderate. The Chinese reaction was positive but not adequate or effective in countering the immediate challenge posed by India.

The compulsions of geography necessitate that the neighbours respect each other concerns. One of the major points of difference between the Indian and the Sri Lankan governments has been that regarding the mechanisms adopted to resolve the ethnic conflict.

India was of the opinion that a negotiated political settlement would resolve the issue whereas the Sri Lankan government was pursuing a military solution and it was as a part of this approach that it was seeking external help.

Since coming to power, Chandrika Kumaratunga has come out with a devolution package to resolve the ethnic crisis, realising that a military solution is not feasible in the long run. India has welcomed this move and is of the opinion that it is a good basis on which to have negotiations. The above analysis clearly shows that there has been a change in attitude of both India and Sri Lanka and the latter has welcomed the non intrusive approach of India.

This stand of India is all the more evident following the enunciation of the Gujral Doctrine, whereby one of the principles calls for non intervention in each others affairs.

India's security concerns linked to the island nation can be said to have been met if there is internal stability in that country, for a natural consequence of this would be that it is less vulnerable to external influence and pressures.

Since Sri Lanka is an island nation, the adverse consequences would have implications for Indian coastal and oceanic defence too. This stability would have a positive impact on India internally too for it would not challenge its nation building experiment. The manifestation of various security concerns as seen at the dawn of independence and during the 80s have been built on this sub structure.

It is this which will define India's policies in the future too. For Sri Lanka, the concern arises from the existence of a minority complex of the majority Sinhalese community when seen in comparison with the Tamils of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu separated hardly by 22 miles in the Palk Strait. The permanency in this reality will always give rise to doubts and suspicions about its only neighbour, India.

It is in-between these parameters that the two countries divergences and convergences will have to be expressed and managed. That was the end of Portuguese rule in Sri Lanka. The Dutch extended their rule and in they captured Trincomalee on the east coast. Kandy remained independent and continued to exist uneasily beside the Dutch colony until when war broke out between them. The Dutch won the war and they forced Kandy to accept a humiliating treaty.

Kandy was forced to recognize Dutch sovereignty over n the Sri Lankan coastline, even those parts that formerly belonged to Kandy, to a depth of 4 Sinhalese miles. However, in Dutch rule gave way to the British.

In that year the British annexed Colombo and Jaffna and Dutch rule was extinguished. The British were keen to conquer Kandy. They gained their opportunity in Kandy was ruled by Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe He was a cruel king and was deeply unpopular with his subjects. Some of his nobles conspired with the British to get rid of him.

The British army invaded Kandy and met little resistance. The king fled abroad. However, in there was a rebellion in parts of Kandy against British rule but it was crushed.

At first, the British trod cautiously. Trial by jury was introduced in and the British built a network of roads. Then in , they introduced wide-ranging reforms. English was made the official language and the administration was reformed.

Slavery was abolished in In the early 19th century the British created large plantations for growing coffee. Import duties on coffee in Britain were reduced and coffee drinking became more common. Exports of Sri Lankan or Ceylonese coffee boomed and large numbers of laborers from India were brought to work on the plantations.

However, from the s, the coffee crop was devastated by the slow spread of a fungus called hemileia vastatrix. In the late 19th century tea replaced coffee as the main Ceylonese crop. Rubber and coconuts were also important crops. Also in the late 19th century both Hinduism and Buddhism revived in Sri Lanka. In the early 20th century Sri Lankan nationalism grew. The Ceylon National Congress was formed in In the Ceylonese were allowed to elect one member of the legislative council and in the British made further concessions.

However, the Ceylonese were not satisfied. In Ceylon was granted a new constitution. From then on the legislature was elected by universal suffrage. However the Ceylonese demanded complete independence. Yet another constitution was introduced in but in the British announced that India was to become independent. The Ceylonese now demanded their independence and in June the British agreed to make Sri Lanka a dominion.

Sri Lanka became independent on 4 February The first prime minister was Dr Stephen Senanayake. When he died in his son Dudley Senanayake followed him. Dudley resigned in and was replaced by Sir John Kotelawala. All three were members of the United National Party. However, in their party fell from power. He promoted Sinhalese culture and extended state control of the economy. However, he was assassinated in In he was replaced by his widow Sirimavo Bandaranaike. She was prime minister until She continued the policy of nationalization.

She also brought most schools under state control. In she was replaced by Dudley Senanayake who was prime minister again until From the s tension between Tamils and Sinhalese grew. In Sinhalese was made the only official language instead of both Sinhalese and Tamil. Bandaranaike also deported many Indian Tamil laborers.

In a rebellion of young people was led by an anti-Tamil organisation called the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. The rebellion was quickly crushed. In Sri Lanka was given a new constitution.

This was very unpopular with followers of other religions. Furthermore, in the number of Tamil places at university was reduced. In the Tamil United Liberation Front was formed. They demanded a separate Tamil state. Then in Sri Lanka was rocked by ethnic riots in which people died. Yet another constitution was introduced in This one made a president the head of state.

However, the new constitution failed to satisfy the Tamils. In civil war broke out between Tamils and Sinhalese. On 23 July Tamil separatists ambushed and killed 13 Sinhalese soldiers. The result was rioting in which hundreds of people died. Afterward, the Tamils fought a guerrilla war against the government. India was drawn into the crisis in when they agreed to send a peacekeeping force to the north and east of Sri Lanka. The Indian Peace Keeping force withdrew in and fighting between Tamils and Sinhalese began again.

Meanwhile in the late s Maoist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna led a violent campaign in the south. It was crushed in In President Premadasa was assassinated. From the mids efforts were made to end the fighting. A cease-fire was made in February and talks were held. However, the cease-fire broke down, and fighting resumed. The war ended in with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers by the Sri Lankan government.

Despite the bloodshed, some progress was made in Sri Lanka. By Sri Lankanwas self-sufficient in rice. Life expectancy increased from 50 in to 69 in From the Sri Lankan government adopted a market economy.