Jaishankar remarks in Sri Lanka talks ‘will be keenly watched by Tamil leadership’

COLOMBO: Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s ongoing visit to Sri Lanka assumes significance for strategic and diplomatic reasons as India tries to counter growing Chinese outreach in the region.

It also comes at a time when some in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration are seeking the abolition of the provincial council system born out of the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987.

Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan is expected to hold talks with the visiting minister on Wednesday morning.

The minister arrived on Tuesday in Colombo on his first foreign visit of the year.

He is scheduled to meet President Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardene and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and several other dignitaries and business leaders during the course of his stay.

According to a report in The Hindu, from the time the new government came to power last year, New Delhi has repeatedly called upon Colombo to address Tamil concerns and aspirations, but the chorus on doing away with the provincial councils and the 13th Amendment —  the only legislative measure of power sharing thus far — has only grown louder in recent weeks.

Significantly, prominent members of the government and others aligned to the regime have openly sought the abolition of the system, while the President and the Prime Minister have not commented on the issue.

Jaishankar’s remarks here will be keenly watched, particularly by Sri Lanka’s Tamil leadership, according to The Hindu.