The Sri Lankan Minister for Trade, Bandula Gunawardana, and the Junior Minister for Regional Cooperation, Tharaka Balasuriya, are on a seven-day visit to Pakistan from January 20 to 27. The Lankan ministers are leading a delegation described as “important” by the Pakistan Foreign Office. On Monday, the Lankan Ministers met the Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Highlighting the importance of strengthening the existing fraternal relations between the two countries through high-level exchanges, the Pakistan Foreign Minister underlined the need to capitalize on the “immense goodwill” that exists between Pakistan and Sri Lanka by expanding cooperation across diverse areas, including trade and investment, tourism, culture, education, defense, agriculture, and human resource development.
Recalling Pakistan Prime Minister’s Imran Khan’s visit to Sri Lanka in February 2021, Foreign Minister Qureshi said that all efforts must be made to enhance bilateral trade through optimal utilization of the 2005 Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA), particularly by expanding interaction between the business communities of both sides, and joint ventures and investments in high potential sectors.
Qureshi noted that deepening economic cooperation through proactive economic diplomacy is a top priority for his government in the context of its policy focus on geo-economics.
Reciprocating Qureshi’s sentiments, Gunawardana thanked the Government of Pakistan for its goodwill towards Sri Lanka at all levels. He appreciated Pakistan’s consistent friendship and support for Sri Lanka and noted that his visit is aimed at further advancing mutually beneficial economic and trade relations. Sri Lanka is keen to expand ties in a whole range of sectors including ICT, pharmaceuticals, minerals, textiles, logistics, shipping, education and tourism, he said. Both sides also agreed to continue close collaboration in multilateral fora and to strengthen regional cooperation.
According to stimson.org, bilateral trade between Pakistan and Sri Lanka grew only marginally from US$ 180 million in 2004 to USD U$ 460 million in 2018, though it is said that the removal of harmful trade barriers could take bilateral trade up to US$ 2.7 billion. In February 2021, commerce secretaries from both sides agreed to revive the Joint Working Groups (JWGs) to address technical impediments to bilateral trade and effectively implement the FTA.
Be that as it may, the FTA and the JWGs have greater diplomatic and psychological significance than economic importance since both are looking for friends to buttress their security in the face of what they see as Indian hegemony.
Imran Khan’s talks with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in February 2021, had created a mutual desire to expand trade, tourism, and investment. Imran had asked Sri Lanka to participate in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to improve regional economic connectivity with emerging Central Asia. Recently Pakistani civilian and military leaders have stated that Islamabad wants to view the world through the lens of “geo-economics” rather than “geo-politics.”
In 2011, Pakistan had offered Sri Lanka soft-credit facility for import of Pakistani sugar and cement. A US$ 200 million Export Credit Facility was also offered to Sri Lanka in September 2012 by President Asif Zardari. Despite these, trade and economic relations have languished. The reasons are: a lack of awareness of each other at businessmen’s level, fear of corruption and lawlessness in Pakistan, lack of complementarity in tradeable goods and a general reluctance to explore a new market. Thus, a US$ 2.7 billion bilateral trade appears to be a mirage.
Geopolitics
If relations are good despite these flaws, it is because Pakistan-Sri Lanka relations rest not on economics but on geopolitics. Sri Lanka and Pakistan need each other to resist what they see as Indian hegemony in South Asia. While India denied military aid to Sri Lanka to fight the Tamil Tigers militants, and was bringing diplomatic pressure on the Sri Lankan government to yield to the Tamils’ demand for greater autonomy, Pakistan fully supported Sri Lanka’s war effort by supplying arms and speaking for it at the UN Human Rights Council when it was being pilloried by Western countries for alleged war crimes. During Imran’s Khan’s visit to Colombo in February 2021, Sri Lanka was offered a US$ 50 million credit line for defense equipment purchases.
Following the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan, international teams had refused to visit Pakistan (Zimbabwe’s tour in 2015 being the only exception). Subsequently Sri Lanka toured Pakistan in 2017, paving the way for the resumption of international sporting activity in Pakistan.
But India’s power over Sri Lanka had come to the fore in 2016 when the scheduled SAARC summit at Islamabad had to be cancelled due to the boycott call given by New Delhi over the issue of Pakistan-inspired terror attacks on the military base at Uri, in India. Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka pulled out. In February 2021, Sri Lanka cancelled Imran Khan’s scheduled speech in the Sri Lankan parliament at the eleventh hour reportedly because India felt that he could indulge in anti-Indian rhetoric on the Kashmir issue.
Cultivation of Buddhist Links
Meanwhile, successive Pakistani High Commissioners in Colombo have been establishing contacts with all Sri Lankan communities and not just the Muslims as was the practice earlier. To erase the impression that Pakistan is an intolerant Islamic state giving no quarter to non-Muslims, the High Commissioners started cultivating Buddhist monks, taking them on tours to places of Buddhist interest in Pakistan like the ruins in Swat. Pakistan and Sri Lanka jointly produced a documentary on the ancient Gandhara Buddhist Civilization. A seminar on the Gandhara Civilization was held at a Buddhist institution near Colombo.
Not to leave the Tamil minority out, High Commissioner Maj.Gen Muhammad Saad Khattak visited the Tamil-speaking provinces in the North and East, areas thought to be India’s bailiwick. Khattak said in his farewell message that he did this against the wishes of a neighbor.
Lynching of Lankan Manager
However, the savage lynching of an expatriate Sri Lankan factory manager Priyantha Kumara by a mob in Sialkot on December 3, 2021 on a false charge of blasphemy, seriously hurt Pakistan-Sri Lanka relations at the popular level if not at the government-to government level. A cautious Lankan government only sought speedy justice. But the Imran Khan government reacted with alacrity, arresting hundreds and ordering day-to-day hearings in the trial at the anti-terrorist court. A huge compensation for the widow of the slain Lankan was announced.
Imran Khan’s party, PTI, tweeted: “Funds of 100000 US $ and first salary of 1667 US Dollar committed by Rajco Industries for next 10 years and announced by Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI has been transferred to the account of Widow of deceased Sri Lankan Manager Mr Priyantha Kumara in Sri Lanka.” This made a favorable impression in the minds of ordinary Sri Lankans.
Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan need bilateral and people-to-people relations. In the short run, Sri Lanka needs Pakistan’s support when the question of human rights violations and alleged war crimes comes up at the March 2022 session of the UNHRC in Geneva. And Pakistan needs Sri Lanka’s support to be able to hold the postponed 19 th. SAARC summit in Islamabad. India is unlikely to give its nod to Pakistan’s move as it continues to accuse Pakistan of sending terrorists to India.
While Islamabad will have no difficulty in supporting Sri Lanka on human rights issues, Sri Lanka may not be able to reciprocate by pushing Pakistan’s case on the SAARC summit issue against India’s will. Currently, Colombo is dependent on India to a significant extent to save itself from economic ruin due to the pandemic, administrative failures and ill-conceived economic policies in the past year and a half.
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