We don't feel threatened by India's rise. We are comfortable with a strong India. We will, of course, work with China in the commercial arena. It is a good commercial partner and a friend, he added.

Speaking with regard to Indian fishermen entering Sri Lankan Northern waters, the High Commissioner said, ‘our expectation from the Tamil Nadu fishermen is not to fish in Sri Lankan waters where they will only be affecting the livelihood of their Tamil brethren in Sri Lanka’.

‘The relations between India and Sri Lanka have reached a position of irreversible excellence and we won't allow petty politics to harm it’.

Following is the full text of the interview:

SAURABH KUMAR SHAHI | Sri Lanka, March 13, 2011 12:41

It's been one and a half years since the conflict ended in Sri Lanka. How different has this period been?

President Rajapaksha had promised in his first term that he would eliminate terrorism and that peace would prevail. His political will has been instrumental in achieving that. Having achieved that, the focus now has shifted to economic development of the north and east. The infrastructure in these areas was ravaged by the three decades of conflict. IRCON from India has developed the railway network in these areas. It is being financed by a $ 800 million credit from new Delhi. We need new ports, airports, roads and other infrastructure.

In the last constitutional amendment, extraordinary powers have been vested in the hands of the President. How will that affect judiciary and other independent institutions?

Sri Lanka has been a democracy since 1931. We are the oldest modern democracy in South Asia. However, we have been tailoring it to the needs of changing times. We shifted from the Dominion set-up to the Executive set-up. Then we decided further that the Executive head will be directly elected by the people. So we have been evolving. The present constitution has served its purpose. The government will look at constitutional amendment only after consultations with all the stakeholders concerned. In that context, the present structure of presidential type of government is perfect. And we are taking measures to strengthen other institutions like the judiciary and the legislature. The most important point is that political power needs to be shared by all communities so that each one of them feels that it is a part of this country.

Strengthening democratic institutions cannot be complete without strengthening the media and that has increasingly come under attack in Sri Lanka. There have been a number of targeted killings of journalists in the last few years...

During the conflict, the situation was different. The media's access to the conflict areas needed to be restricted to assure their own and other people's protection. It was required as we did not want the situation to go out of hand. However, after the end of the conflict, the safety and security of journalists has increased manifold. They are now able to practice free and independent journalism without the fear of any retribution. There is certainly the old baggage of the conflict that is held against us but I don't think that's fair. There have been a few instances where we have not been able to bring some cases to conclusion because of the lack of evidence. In recent days, some media persons have been attacked. But these are not organised and are rather results of personal rivalries. We don't condone that.

Sri Lanka had slipped on various developmental indices during the conflict years. What changes are we likely to see on the economic front?

We are mindful of the need for the economy to grow. Post conflict, the economy has grown by eight per cent. It will grow further. Tourism has grown by 40 per cent. We are focusing on other areas as well. Sri Lanka can become an economic hub in this region on the account of the efficiencies of our ports. We are liberalising the financial sector. We are promoting IT, BPO and KPO big time. Here India and Sri Lanka can work together to create a niche. We have an FTA with India and we want to expand that. We also want to use our locational advantage for our next stage of economic growth. Indian traders are going to benefit from that.

India considers the area between the Gulf of Eden to the Strait of Malacca as its area of interest. Where do you think Sri Lanka fits in that equation?

We are concerned about piracy. India and Sri Lanka are working closely on this matter. We are trying to keep terrorists and non-state actors from using this area for weapon trade, drugs trade and other illegal activities. We will work with India and other like-minded countries to ensure that the sea route is safe and is not used for anti-India or anti-Sri Lanka activities.

On the foreign policy front, how do you see India's concern regarding Sri Lanka's growing relations with China?

We are friends with all countries. And as our President said, India is our relative and we have a soft corner for it. Our relations go back to the days of Emperor Ashoka. We don't feel threatened by India's rise. We are comfortable with a strong India. Therefore, there is no reason for this concern. We will, of course, work with China in the commercial arena. It is a good commercial partner and a friend. But, there is no reason for us to work with any country against India and we will not allow our land to be used against India.

Talking about the integration process, what do you think is the right way to share political space with minorities?

We need to consolidate this hard-earned peace. For that, we have been focusing on reconciliation and rehabilitation. We are also focusing on the reasons behind the conflict. So we have set up the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) that is going to these areas, meeting people, listening to their grievances and asking them for ideas. They are going to the smallest possible villages in Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Colombo. They will come up with a set of recommendations that will be put for discussion and eventual implementation. We want a solution that focuses on restorative justice and not retributive justice. The focus is to give everyone a sense of dignity and justice. We are having structural dialogue with the Tamil National Alliance and we are talking to the Muslim parties as well.

Well before the sharing of political power comes the issue of rehabilitation. What is the current status?

Almost all the internally displaced people (IDP) have been rehabilitated. Now the second phase is to provide them with housing and means of livelihood. India has built 50,000 houses. Schools and hospitals have to be rebuilt too. At the same time, we also need to rehabilitate former LTTE cadres. We took almost 8,000 of them in custody and almost half of them have now been released and rehabilitated. We also want democratic traditions to be reintroduced and re-energised in the north and the east. We are holding local government elections on March 17. We want the local leadership to emerge from the people itself. The diaspora that migrated long ago lives in a dream world and still talks of separatism. We are not talking that language any more. We want them to contribute to the nation building process. A paradigm shift in their attitude is needed. The ground has shifted and so has the geopolitical situation in our region. This shout for war crime charges is misplaced. What are they going to achieve? This was a conflict where there were no clear boundaries. Lankan forces did not deliberately kill civilians.

India has taken the killing of its fishermen very seriously. It may become a hot issue in the ensuing Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu...

This is a sensitive issue but it can be handled sensibly. We won't like any party, whether in India or in Sri Lanka, to politicise the issue. Fishermen are innocent people who are not aware of the maritime boundaries. We need to educate them. We must also keep in mind that during the conflict, Indian fishermen used to fish in the waters of northern Sri Lanka as that was not under our control. But now we need to provide that space to Sri Lankan fishermen. They have come out of a long-drawn conflict and they need livelihood support. Our expectation from the Tamil Nadu fishermen is that do not fish in Sri Lankan waters where they will only be affecting the livelihood of their Tamil brethren in Sri Lanka. India and Sri Lanka are coming up with a joint working group that will include officials from the MEA, fishery department and Coast Guard. The relations between India and Sri Lanka have reached a position of irreversible excellence and we won't allow petty politics to harm it.