New Delhi: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse will be in India for a four-day state visit starting on Tuesday. This is his first overseas visit after being elected to power in November.
Rajapakse wants India to play a greater role in the fragile peace process between his government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
But India has its reservations on the issue as the LTTE is responsible for the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
India is therefore examining various diplomatic options, like increasing humanitarian and developmental assistance to rebel controlled areas in Sri Lanka.
The LTTE was formed on May 5, 1976, under the leadership of Velupillai Prabhakaran, and has emerged as a lethal and disciplined terrorist force in Sri Lanka.
"Sri Lanka is on your strategic radar and therefore if anyone says that we must keep a hands-off policy then that won't pay off. If you don't get involved in your backyard, others will," former RAW official Col. R S N Singh said.
The presence of the DMK and the PMK in Parliament as members of the ruling coalition is one reason why Rajapakse may not raise defence co-op with the Indians.
At least two bilateral agreements are on the cards in the health and education sectors but the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will not be signed during this visit.
CEPA is expected to carry forward the Free Trade Agreement and take the two economies beyond trade in goods towards greater integration and impart renewed impetus and synergy to bilateral economic interaction.
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