Indian consulate in Jaffna likely

NEW DELHI: India is planning to set up a consulate at Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka. With Mr Rajapaksa now back in power, the matter is expected to gather momentum. The setting up of a consulate in Jaffna would be a significant step in the domestic context as it would allay apprehensions in Tamil Nadu that the Centre is not doing enough for the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The consulate plan has been reported with great excitement in the Lankan media. Lanka’s news agency Lankapuvath quoted unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that Colombo would have no objection to New Delhi setting up a consulate in Jaffna.

At present, India has a high commission in Colombo and an assistant high commission in Kandy. On the other side, Sri Lanka has a high commission in New Delhi, a deputy high commission in Chennai, a consulate general in Mumbai and an honorary consul in Kolkata.

After winning the presidential elections by a landslide victory, Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa sought to reassure his domestic constituency and the international community saying he was focused on the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Tamils in the North and East. “I will come out with my solution. It is in my manifesto, so it is planned, the way I am going to do it and I will be doing it," the President was quoted as saying.

Elaborating on his plans, he said it would be a political solution based on a Sri Lankan model. Expressing his faith in India, he said, “India has been very helpful and they know this is an internal matter. We know that we can depend on them.”

In this backdrop the consulate in Jaffna is expected to add to Indian efforts to further assist Sri Lanka in the reconstruction and rehabilitation process. Since the defeat of the LTTE, India has rolled out help in various ways. At present Indian teams are engaged in demining in the Northern province. Early this month the two sides also signed a commercial agreement for the construction of the railway line between Omanthai and Pallai in the Northern Province. India has extended a line of credit for $185 million for the railway project. In all India has committed $425 million in lines of credit for the railway infrastructure alone.

Immediately, after the defeat of the LTTE last year, India had announced a Rs 500 crore-package for rehabilitation of Tamils in eastern and northern Sri Lanka and offered help in building the infrastructure in the north and east.