Is it a case of two pounds of flesh?

By Praying Mantis-January 25, 2021

Our big brother from across the Palk Strait has very firmly and clearly started to wield the stick; yet again and most certainly as before. The Foreign Minister, from our friendly neighbouring land of a billion and a portion of inhabitants, came over to this pearl of the Indian Ocean, just a few days ago. As has been reported in the media, this was ostensibly at the ‘invitation’ of his counterpart here to discuss matters of ‘mutual interest’. Who invited whom and for what specific purpose has not been very clearly elucidated, certainly not even by our own chappie! That foreigner was not subjected to corona testing as far as we know, and he met the high and mighty of the land without any problems. Everything was completed in a day or two and he flew back whence had come.

He came, he saw, and quite apparent to all and sundry, it looks as if he had tried to conquer. To all intents and purposes, he seems to have had the offer or the dangling carrot of the coronavirus vaccine in one pocket and two other bargaining tools in the other. One for two or two for one, whichever way one looks at it. The vaccine was the stick and the bargaining tools were the 13^th Amendment to our constitution and the Eastern Container Terminal of the Colombo Port.

The 13^th had to stay, they probably said, in pretty veiled terminology, of course. Never mind the colossal waste of money spent on these white elephants in the provinces and the mahouts who seemed to think that they reigned supreme, even more than even the real powers that be of the land. We have survived very well without these miserable money-gobbling provincial assemblies for the last couple of years, saved millions, perhaps even billions of our precious rupees in the process, and even been spared the grandiose sayings and the sights of their Councillors. It must be clearly stated that the 13^th Amendment was the result of a accord signed between the late Rajiv Gandhi and the late J. R. Jayewardene on the 29^th of July 1987; 34 years ago. So far, we have suffered because of that for over three decades, except for the respite we have had for the last few years. They managed to get the choicest of the crooks and the top of the scum into the controlling councillor positions of these establishments. One excuse given for trying to have fresh elections to these councils is the allegation that the workers in these councils are running the show and doing whatever they want. Well… look around carefully, we have not done too badly with the so-called lower echelons running the show.

As reported by the Hindustan Times, the good doctor chap from our friendly big brother, did say, at a Press Briefing, some things to the effect that it was in the interests of Sri Lanka to give in to the expectations of the Tamil people for greater devolution of power in our resplendent island and went on further to reiterate India’s backing for Sri Lanka’s reconciliation process and an ‘inclusive political outlook’ that encourages ethnic harmony. Acknowledging the immediate challenge of post-Covid-19 recovery, he said that India would ‘always be a dependable partner and a reliable friend’ that is open to strengthening ties on the basis of ‘mutual trust, mutual interests, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity’; everything quite mutual, supposedly with positives for both sides!

As reported in the Hindustan Times, our chappie has meekly said in response that our Executive President had firmly stated his commitment to the well-being, progress and opportunities of all Sri Lankan citizens, including Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. Our man has also gone to the extent of thanking India for its support to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. He had added ‘The Indian government’s ‘neighbourhood first policy’ made a very positive impact on our health sector and the economy during the critical period [of] unprecedented crisis’. We must note the phrase ‘Health Sector’. So far, we have not had any major health assistance from our friendly big brother; there has been only a pledge to provide the corona vaccine in the future.

There was no mention of the East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port either. In all probability, it was not necessary because of the 51:49 deal, just about marginally in our favour, that has been mooted. It has been claimed that this deal was contemplated for geopolitical reasons. The word “geopolitics” is defined as ‘a study of the influence of such factors as geography, economics, and demography on the politics and especially the foreign policy of a state’. So …, there you are; arm twisting at its very best. Do as you are told or else, no vaccine perhaps! The Colombo Port Trade Unions are up in arms against it. We could have at least bargained for a two-third benefit in our East Container Terminal, reminiscent of the controlling interest in our Parliament rather than a despondent 51:49 deal.

None of these statements or promulgations specifically mention a Covid vaccine by name but the implications are there when one reads between the lines. It is probably being covertly used rather cleverly as a bargaining tool. All these statements are very often couched in misleading diplomatese. Even if the vaccine is held back with a beautifully worded diplomatic diatribe in the future, we should keep in mind the events of June 1987. That was the time when Indian Air Force planes, escorted by Mirage fighter jets, dropped around 25 tonnes of relief supplies on the Northern parts of the country. It happened just a day after this island nation’s Navy drove off Indian fishing boats laden with food and medicine.

The then Sri Lankan government of that time responded with a lukewarm whimper of a rebuke and called India’s airdrop ‘a naked violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity’. It went on to say that “we have no military or other means of preventing this outrage. We will take this up in an appropriate forum“. That never happened. Instead, we were saddled with the 13^th Amendment to our Constitution. In a laughable response, one of our Foreign Ministry officials, speaking anonymously, had said at that time, most definitely in a tongue-in-cheek response; “There really was not much we could do about it, so we were hoping the sacks of salt would fall on the Tamil terrorists. Maybe next time they will be good enough to send coconuts“.

This time at least, there is probably nothing to prevent even a highly selective air-drop of this corona virus vaccine to certain selected areas of the country, rather than the entire island if we do not give in to Indian pressure. However, with all the logistics involved, it would be a much more difficult thing, when compared to just air-dropping sacks of dhal.

So … two pounds of carefully cut flesh in the form of the East Container Terminal and the 13^th Amendment, in return for a vaccine thing that may keep our people healthy. It is debatable as to what even Portia of Merchant of Venice fame would say; the cut has to be absolutely perfect perhaps. The way things are going in the paradise isle at present, we might get so many corona cases occurring in many parts of the land, and we may even very quickly develop what the medical experts choose to call ‘herd immunity’. Then we may not even need a vaccine!