Sri Lanka's strategic role for India

Being a geographically proximate state of India, Sri Lanka assumes great importance to India. Both India and Sri Lanka are situated in the outer rim areas of the Indian Ocean and, thus, have tremendous potential to develop maritime trade with the Afro-Asian countries and the various other countries of the world. In the context of 116 Indo-Sri Lanka relations, the geo-strategic dimension continues to be as one of the independent variables. Since colonial days, naval strategists have emphasised the importance of Sri Lanka in the defence calculations of India. For the British colonialists, Sri Lanka had been an integral part to the defence of the Indian subcontinent as it served as a vital link in their sea communications eastwards. India after independence, continued to adhere to the principles of strategic importance of Sri Lanka on the lines of the British theory in the sub-continent. This is evident from the fact that in the early years, just after independence and even the years immediately preceding them, Indian writers, politicians and strategists had sought to emphasize the strategic unity of India and Sri Lanka and have argued for a closer union between the two countries.

From the security point of view of India, Sri Lanka assumes serious strategic importance in the Indian Ocean region. Further more, the strategic important of Sri Lanka becomes crystal clear from the statement of the then first Prime Minister of Ceylon, D. S. Senanayake, when he expressed, „We are in an especially dangerous position, because we are in one of the strategic highways of the world. The country, which captures Ceylon could dominate the Indian Ocean‟. 2 Having attained its independence after a long colonial rule, it is repugnant for India to think of dominating her neighbours in the name of safeguarding its security. 3 Hence, it has sought to prevent any external military presence in the Indian Ocean by promoting good neighbourliness and peaceful regional co-operation.