CHOGM & Maldives - What India should do

CHOGM

The opposition from the Tamil Nadu political parties has literally forced the PM to take a decision. This is not a great multilateral forum that PM has to attend. However, with the resolution passed by the TN assembly, the PM has to attend the CHOGM meeting. Otherwise it will look like he has let the regional parties decide the foreign policy. What I would suggest is PM to attend the meeting and must also visit Jaffna. That will ensure that the regional parties keep quite. 

When it comes to Sri Lanka, we need to force them to implement the so called 13+ that Mahinda Rajapaksa said he will do. As mentioned in my earlier post about going back on promises he made (http://dailykaruthu.blogspot.in/2013/08/from-13-to-diluted-13-feeling-cheated.html), Rajapaksa has been getting away with whatever he wants to do. Unless we have a relationship with them, we will not be able to force him to act. In case the PM decides not to attend this meeting we will have no clout with Rajapaksa. The sad part is the opposition party in Sri Lanka led by Ranil Wikramasinghe is also in tatters that also gives Rajapaksa the room to do what he wants. 

Every party knows that Indian fisherman has been going deep into Sri Lankan territory to catch fish. When LTTE was active, Sri Lankan fisherman were not allowed to fish which also helped the Indian fisherman to catch fish in Sri Lankan territory. Now that LTTE is finished the Sri Lankan fisherman are also back in the ocean and they don’t want Indian fisherman fishing in their territory. This is what is forcing the Sri Lankan Navy to act. However, all that they should do is take the Indian Fisherman into custody for crossing into Sri Lankan territory and not fire at them. India needs to be engaged with the Sri Lankan government, even to force them not to fire at our fisherman.

The other worry is that China card is played beautifully by Rajapaksa. We are being naive to fall into that trap. We should have never allowed him to use the China card. When India is not even allowed to get near South China Sea how in the hell did India allow China to get well entrenched in Sri Lanka? 

Maldives

I had written about 20 days back about what's happening in Maldives (Maldives' tryst with democracy) and what India should do. Sujatha Singh the Foreign secretary had visited Maldives after that. But things have taken a turn for the worst. Elections were supposed to have been held by 20th of October is now postponed to 9th of November and if there is a second round it will be held on 16th of November. That will leave a 5 day gap of the country not having a President. 

Gayoom is still having a strong say in the country. India which has helped Gayoom many times, is not able to influence him now. This is really surprising and unbelievable as India even helped him thwart an attempt by LTTE to take over Maldives. 

Mohammed Waheed, the current President has decided not to contest the elections, which was the wise thing to do. He received only 5% votes in the annulled elections held on 7^th September.

Election commission has clearly stated that it will not hold elections before the 9th of November. India should ensure that the elections are held without any further delay. India should talk to Gayoom and reign him in. China has a huge consulate in Male and bulk of the tourists coming to Maldives are now from China. India need to ensure that Maldives also doesn’t start playing the China card.