MARITIME COOPERATION BETWEEN INDIA AND SRI

LANKA

As has discovered, “India’s perception of maritime security of the Indian Ocean Region

has a long historical legacy. This conception of maritime security is not only includes

political security of a nation but also include security of trade, investment and availability

of resources, which are the basis of economic growth and prosperity. India’s maritime

strategy is largely centered on the Indian Ocean region and its littoral states.” Sri Lanka is

one of the important nations in these littoral states which play an important role in the

maritime strategy of India. Maritime strategy of India can be easily affected by changing

situations of Sri Lanka. Brain Orland clearly explain the importance of Sri Lanka in

Indian Ocean as he said that Sri Lanka’s Location in the Indian Ocean has strategic

importance as Sri Lanka’s southern costs provides an international shipping route. The

Colombo port of Sri Lanka served as an “entry and exit point for ships that is transiting

from the East and the West. The Indian Ocean accommodates half of the world’s

containerized freight, one-third of its bulk cargo, and two-thirds of its oil shipments”.

Therefore, Sri Lanka can play an important role in Indian Ocean region and good

relations with Sri Lanka is an important phenomenon for all major economies and sea

trade based countries and so as for India. Maritime security between India and Sri Lanka

in Indian Ocean region has been developed as a major concern for Indian policy makers.

To protect its economic and security interests in Indian Ocean region, it is important for

India to maintain its friendly and cordial relations with Sri Lanka. It is important because

Sri Lanka plays an important role in India’s maritime trade and security. Highlighting the

importance of Sri Lanka for India, Brian Orland says that “Over 70 percent of Indian

imports arrive through the port of Colombo for bulk-breaking before they are shipped on

local vessels to Indian ports. India’s dependence on the Indian Ocean as a maritime

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trading zone and transit-way for oil trade has meant that securing the Indian Ocean is

crucial to its continued engagement with the international marketplace; and the waters

adjacent to Sri Lanka assume special significance in these security arrangements.”

According to the Annual Report of the Ministry of Defence published by Government of

India (2011-2012) as a growing and sustained economy, India cannot ignore the fact that

“the maritime domain is the prime facilitator of our development. More than 90 percent

of our trade by volume and 77 percent of our trade by value are transported over the seas.

Over 97 percent of our energy needs of oil are either imported or produced from offshore

fields. Consequently, our economic growth is inextricably linked to the seas.”

India also has interests related with its pragmatic security in Sri Lanka. Portuguese, Dutch

and British recognised Sri Lanka as a navy base in the Indian Ocean which shows Sri

Lanka’s strategic importance as a naval base. India and Sri Lanka shares maritime

problems and they also shares their bad effects too and that’s why there is need of

strengthening maritime cooperation between India and Sri Lanka.

Naval Cooperation during LTTE Problem

The weak point of maritime relations between India and Sri Lanka is that both

governments didn’t paid much attention on maritime problems however time to time

India provided some naval assistance to Sri Lanka but maritime problems remains

unsolved. For the first time, India provided naval assistance to Sri Lanka in 1971 during

JVP revolt in Sri Lanka. At this time Indian naval forces helped Sri Lanka to counter with

smuggling of arms and ammunitions to the militant movement in the region of Palk

Strait. India also provided its naval help to Sri Lanka in 1987 when Sri Lanka was

suffering from civil war.

At that time Indo-Lanka Peace accord was also signed between both countries in which

India agreed to give its naval cooperation to Sri Lanka to prevent LTTE (Liberation

Tigers of Tamil Elam) activities in between maritime boundaries of both countries.

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According to the accord joint naval operations and joint naval patrols were done by both

countries. There was a naval operation named “Operation Pawan” operated by Indian

navy. Indian Naval Liaison Teams (INLTs), The Indian Marine Special Force (IMSF) and

MARCOS, a group of 40 strong Marine Commandos were also participated in this

operations and patrols. In January 1988 a special force of 15 armed trawlers were also

instituted. India also provided maritime intelligence inputs and radar equipment, offshore

patrol vessels “INS Saryu” and helicopters to Sri Lanka for controlling LTTE’s activities

in Palk Bay.

India’s naval assistance to Sri Lanka during tsunami

When the whole South Asia was suffering from the disastrous effects of Tsunami, India

gave major humanitarian and naval assistance to Sri Lanka. Indian navy conducted the

“Operation Rainbow” in Sri Lanka in December 2004. Under this operation, firstly a

heavy range of medical assistance and a medical team was send to Sri Lanka. Four Indian

naval ships along with helicopters on board were directed to steam immediately

commenced relief and damage control operations. By 30 December 2004, India also sent

4 ships loaded with “relief supplies, rescue and relief workers including scuba drivers for

salvage operations”. 30 tones of relief goods were sent to Trincomalee by INS Sukanya

and Sandhayak and 22 tons of relief supplies by INS Sutlej Sharda to Galle. Again on 31

December, 20 tons of relief supplies were also sent to Trincomalee by INS Kirch and

1000 kg of relief goods were sent to Colombo by INS Aditya. On 1 January 2005, 82 tons

of relief goods and rations were send to Trincomalee by INS Ghorpad and 1500 kg of

relief goods by CGS Samar to Colombo on 2 January 2005. The INS Sutlej and INS

Sarveekhak operated two medical camps in Galle. Subsequently Indian deployment for

relief efforts consisted of stationing an air detachment of 10 aircraft, “about 15 naval ship

loads of supplies, 15 medical teams including a mobile field hospitals, a 40 bed hospital

ship (INS Jamuna) that was anchored off Galle and Trincomalee for two weeks, 10 teams

of naval drivers and a 81 member Composite Army disaster management team”. 10

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truckloads of supplies donated by CII were also handed over to the Ramakrishna Mission

in Point Pedro in northern Sri Lanka.

Cooperation on Fishermen Issue

To solve fishermen problem there were some meetings arranged by NGOs and

governments. The first bilateral meeting between India and Sri Lanka, regarding

fishermen problems was arranged on 20 Oct, 2004 in New Delhi, the Indian government

invited a team of official from Sri Lanka to discuss the issue of fishermen. After this

discussion Indian central government directed to the state government of Tamil Nadu to

stop the Indian fishermen activities related with the violation of the maritime boundaries.

In this regard “the Tamil Nadu government had cancelled and suspended 603 fishing

respectively, for violating the maritime boundary and imposed a fine of INR 391,000 on

violators.”

The second bilateral meeting was arranged on 21st April 2005 in New Delhi. In this

meeting a bilateral joint working group of fisheries was established between India and Sri

Lanka. This sought for “enhanced serivelence to minimize the problem of incursion of

fishing vessels from both sides in each other’s waters.” As well as providing modalities,

for dealing with fishermen “straying inadvertently into each other waters.”

The third Joint working group meeting was arranged on 26th October 2008, where the

two sides met and finalized the “practical arrangement to deal with bonafide Indian and

Sri Lankan fishermen crossing the international maritime boundary line.” Both the sides

agreed on the solutions that the Sri Lankan government designates the sensitive areas

with its coastline and there should be no firing by navies on passing vessels which have a

legitimate identity card issue by the government.

On 7-11 June 2010, during visit of the Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapaksha to

India, both sides accept to find a way to strengthen the security of fishermen. In 2011,

after the incidence of 2 fishermen killings by Sri Lankan navy, Chief Minister of Tamil

Nadu said, “The retrieval of Kachchatheevu was the only solution to end the suffering of

Tamil Nadu fishermen.” On 30-31 January 2011, the then foreign secretary of India

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Nirupama Rao along with senior official of Ministry of External Affairs visited Sri

Lanka. In this visit, a joint statement was issued by both sides that “use of force cannot be

justified under any situation and both countries desire to find an amicable solution to the

issue.” The next joint working group meeting was held in New Delhi on 28-29 March

2011. In this meeting both sides unjustified the use of force and Indian side took strong

stand on continued violence against Indian fishermen.

On 9 to 11 October 2011, Indian foreign secretary Rajan Mathai visited Sri Lanka and

met President Mahindra Rajapaksha to discuss the issue of harassment of Indian

fishermen by the hand of Sri Lankan Navy. Rajan Mathai expressed India’s concerns over

violence against Tamil Nadu fishermen. On 14th October 2011, the Madurai high court

issued an order for the central government. The court said, “This court is inclined to grant

interim directions to the Union of India to protect the interests of the Indian fishermen,

particularly. Tamil fishermen are able to exercise their right to fishing. It is inherently

impossible for them to survive as they are solely depending only on the avocation of

fishing and there for any threat to their life and security in exercising their right of fishing

would ultimately infringe their fundamental right to livelihood enshrined in the

constitution of India.”

“The fourth meeting of the joint working group on fisheries was held in Colombo on 13-

14 January 2013. In this meeting both sides reviewed and analyzed the developments

since the last meeting of the joint working group.” The next meeting of joint working

group was held on 22nd January 2013. In this meeting the joint commission declared that

“the both sides are committed to lower the problem pertaining to fishing on the

international maritime boundary line.” Sri Lankan external affairs minister G.L. Peiris

stated that, “on this matter very clear instructions have been given by the government of

Sri Lanka to Sri Lankan navy and those instructions are being scrupulously observed. It is

a human problem which requires a response founded upon humanitarian values.”

On January 24, 2013, Sri Lankan president Mahindra Rajapaksha said that “Sri Lanka

will initiate a dialogue with the Indian government to resolve once and for all the issues

connected to illegal fishing and trespassing into each other’s territories waters by

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fishermen of both countries.” On January 28, 2013, India’s Ministry of State V.

Narayanasamy said “India and Sri Lanka were close to clinching an agreement on

drawing a fishing boundary in the Palk Strait that would put an end to recurring attacks

on fishermen from both sides.”

In a coast guard level meeting between India and Sri Lanka on 26th June 2014 both sides

agreed “to strengthen the cooperation on evolving a collaborative approach in addressing

a spectrum of maritime issues concerning safety and security and further streamlining the

procedure for release or repatriation of fishermen.”

Some nongovernmental organizations like ARIF (Alliance for Release of Innocent

Fishermen), NAFSO (The National Fisheries Solidarity), NUF (National Union of

Fishermen), FDSC (Fisheries Development Solidarity Centre), UFFC (United Fishermen

and Fish Workers Congress), has also played an important role in the fishing dispute. The

important and major NGOs that work for the fishermen of India are the SIFFS (South

Indian federation of fisherman societies). The main objective of SIFFS is helping

fisherman in marketing their fish and protecting their livelihood in a sustainable way. It is

coordinating with ARIF (Alliance for Release of Innocent Fishermen). ARIF is a

combined network of trade unions, NGOs and fishermen’s association that is equally

committed to the release and repatriation of arrested fishermen and in many ways played

a constructive role in fishing wars.

The first meeting was organized in 2004. This resulted in the 2004 agreement, “an

initiative supported by the Indian government, both at state level and at the centre, and to

a certain extent by the Sri Lankan government. A follow-up to the 2004 meeting was

planned three months later. However after the tsunami of December 2004 struck, the

properties of fisher, governments and NGOs shifted to rehabilitation of the affected

fishers. Moreover, the cease fire between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government

collapsed soon after in the Northern Province. Hence the dialogue process was put on

hold until 2010.”

The next meeting of these two NGOs was held in August 2010. In this meeting, all fisher

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representatives signed a final document. Later, this agreement was sent to both the Indian

and the Sri Lankan government for formal recognition. However it has argued that the

“agreement restricted Indian fishers from undertaking destructive practices such as purse

seining and pair trawling and going too close to the Sri Lankan shore and another

outcome of this meeting was a promise made by Indian trawler fishers that in principle

they would reduce the size of the fleet and the incidence of trawling.” During this period

(2010-2011), “70 days to fish in Sri Lankan water was allowed on the condition that they

do not come too close to the shore and do not use pair trawling. The Indian side agreed on

this.”

Cooperation on Sethu Samudram Canal Project

Besides this, India and Sri Lanka did not showed much concerns about the issue of Sethu

Samudram Canal project. In a joint statement, released during the visit of Sri Lankan

President Chandrika Kumaratunga to India from June 2-5 2005, both countries agreed

that “the exchange of views between the Indian and Sri Lankan technical experts should

be continue. This would involve environmental concerns and prospects of closer

economic cooperation between the two countries in the Palk Bay area.” Following the

purpose, the Sri Lankan Cabinet appointed an Inter Ministerial Committee on

Sethusamudram convened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A multi-sector technical

level delegation was constituted to undertake discussions on the proposed project.

The first round of Indo-Sri Lankan technical level discussions was held in New Delhi. In

this meeting, the two delegations were led by Chairman of National Aquatic Resources

Agency, Kapila Perera and the Indian Shiping Ministry Secretary D. T. Joseph. Sri

Lankan and Indian Delegations agreed on the continuation of the process of exchange of

views between the technical level experts. In this meeting, the two sides also agreed on

the identification of the possible areas of cooperation in this project. Some

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Recommendations that purposed by both sides in this meeting include “joint monitoring

and assessment of any adverse implications, creating a mechanism for exchanging

information, joint assessment of risks through a common base of information, and

creating modalities to address these concerns. The bottom line is that environmental

concerns must be addressed jointly, and that close economic cooperation in the Palk Strait

area must be established.”

Generally, the Sethusamudram canal project is perceive as an opportunity by both

countries as mutual economic cooperation that benefits both countries. The government

of Sri Lanka stated that “the SSCP can be seen not only as a challenge but an opportunity

complementary areas generated could be exploited by the Sri Lankan shipping industry.

The commercial implications of opening and expanding ports in South India were also

evaluated, and it was generally agreed that the port in Colombo would continue to attract

international shipping business.”

Naval Cooperation

In 2010, India and Sri Lanka started Army-to-Army staff talks to motivate bilateral

military cooperation between them with joint exercises and training programs. In

September 2010 after six years, the naval forces of both countries were participated in a

joint exercise to enhance greater inter-operability and to increase joint naval operations.

The joint naval exercise was arranged by both countries called "Operation Slinex 11” and

it aims to rekindle close cooperation between Indian and Sri Lankan Navy.

At the first NSA-level trilateral meeting on maritime security cooperation in Maldives in

October 2011, the three countries, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives purposed a proposal

named “the Trilateral Cooperation in Maritime Security”. In July 2013, at the second

meeting in Colombo, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives concluded an agreement on

“Trilateral Cooperation on Maritime Security (TCMS) to address common maritime

security threats and challenges and enhance security through cooperative measures.” This

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agreement includes three types of activities. “First, Initiatives to enhance Maritime

Domain Awareness (MDA) through access to systems run under the aegis of the

International Maritime Organization (IMO), such as Long Range Identification and

Tracking (LRIT) services and sharing of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data;

Second, Training and capacity building initiatives in areas of MDA, Search and Rescue,

and Oil Pollution Response; and Third, Joint activities including trilateral exercises,

maintaining lines of communication on illegal maritime activities, formulation of marine

oil pollution response contingency plans and cooperation in legal and policy issues related

to piracy.”

The twenty third IMBL (International Maritime Boundary Line) meeting was arranged

between India and Sri Lanka on 1st November 2013 to discuss the bilateral maritime

issues which is common for both countries. During the discussion, the both side’s Navy

officials have discussed issues like “fishing activities conducted in the Palk Strait, Gulf of

Manner and Eastern sea areas and smuggling of narcotics across the IMBL. The two

navies have also focused on strengthening the security in these areas.”

On 3rd December 2013, India and Sri Lanka have agreed to take cooperative naval

measures to prevent pirates and terrorist group’s activities operating in the Indian Ocean

region. The measures were discussed in an unpublicized meeting between Sri Lanka’s

permanent Defence Secretary, Lieutenant-Colonel Gotabaya Rajapaksha, and India’s

National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon. A separate dialogues was also took place

with Indian naval commanders. The main focus of these Meetings was on “pushing ahead

military-to-military cooperation to secure both countries’ common security interests.”

On February 2014 Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris in his three-day

visit to India discussed key bilateral issues with his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid.

In this meeting both ministers also discussed on fishermen issue. The result of this

meeting was that both sides agreed on that the both governments should continue to

engage with each other to ensure the safety of fishermen livelihood in a sustainable

manner. They also focused on “the satisfactory development of the trilateral cooperation

on maritime security among India, Sri Lanka and Maldives.” The three countries agreed

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on the point that they should increase the maritime cooperation between them to keep

focus on the current maritime security environment in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

On 6th March 2014, India hosted the third NSA-level Trilateral Meeting on Maritime

Security Cooperation between Sri Lanka, India and Maldives. During the third NSA-

Level meeting in Delhi, the three countries reviewed and expressed their satisfaction over

the progress in the identified areas. “Hydrographic; training in Visit, Board, Search and

Seizure Operations; training on board Indian Sail Training Ships; exchanges between

think tanks; and joint participation in adventure activities were also discussed as new

areas of cooperation.. This meeting concluded in an agreement comprised of a number of

steps, including information sharing, training in oil pollution response and cooperation in

the legal and policy response to piracy.” In his statement Shivshankar Menon said,

“Counterterrorism is still obviously an interest for all of us. When I say that we share

information and we also consider joint action against illegal activities, it includes

terrorism. But the immediate threat that we have been facing in the last few years was

piracy. That fortunately at least in the Arabian Sea and off the Horn of Africa is down,

due to a variety of factors not just what the three of us are doing with this, the whole

world has been actually working at that problem. But even though the numbers may be

down and it might have decreased because of the effort that we have put in, the primary

source of the problem, which is on land, has not been solved.”

A high level Coast Guard meeting was also arranged between India and Sri Lanka from

June 24 to June 28, 2014. In this meeting a three member delegation led by the Director

General Sri Lankan Coast Guard (SLCG) Rear Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne met

with the Indian delegation which was led by the Director General Indian Coast Guard

Vice Admiral Anurag G Thapliyal. In this meeting both delegations was discussed

common maritime issues of mutual concerns to develop a cooperative approach,

moreover satisfaction was also expressed by both sides over the significance of this visit

in providing a fresh start to the existing ties between India and Sri Lanka. The focus of

the meeting was on further “strengthening the operational level communication between

both countries for search and rescue, preservation & protection of maritime environment

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and reevaluating standard operating procedures & communication procedures between

the two Coast Guards. It was mutually agreed to strengthen the cooperation on evolving

collaborative approach, in addressing a spectrum of maritime issues concerning safety

and security and further streamlining the procedure for release of fishermen.”

The Galle Dialogue is an initiative taken by Sri Lanka initiated in August 2010 by Sri

Lanka’s Ministry of Defence and the Sri Lanka Navy as a forum for the discussion of

maritime security issues. In these meetings “the maritime problems like piracy, terrorism,

human smuggling, drug trafficking, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, and

illegal waste disposal are discusses by the participating countries.” The first meeting was

held at the Lighthouse Hotel in Galle, Sri Lanka which was attended by 11 countries.

The second meeting was arranged in the year 2011which was attended by 19 countries, 28

countries attended the third meeting in 2012, and 35 countries attended the fourth edition

in 2013. The major goal of this dialogue was “to combat with above smuggling and

trafficking problems and to develop a strategic and maritime cooperation between

different states.” In these meetings various recommendations were given by officials of

different countries to avoid threats they are facing from these problems. After the 8th

round meet of the Joint India-Sri Lanka Commission on 22 January 2013 at New Delhi

India and Sri Lanka signed the “Agreement on Combating International Terrorism and

Illicit Drug Trafficking”.

REFERENCE

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