Sri Lankans celebrate the second anniversary of the military defeat of the LTTE, with significant pride in that achievement and justifiable joy that one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations in the world has been effectively wiped out. However two years on, there are legitimate questions to be asked about the nature of the peace dividend that Sri Lankans of all ethnicities, whether Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher have received. It is a question, if muted in Sri Lanka, is increasingly loudly asked internationally.

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Indian National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, External Affairs Ministry Secretary Nirupama Rao and Defence Ministry Secretary Pradeep Kumar are due in Sri Lanka tomorrow, Friday 13^th May. They are due for meetings with their counterparts and also with President Mahinda Rajapakse. The team that is coming are the senior most Indian officials who effectively make Indian foreign policy. India is being countered on by the Sri Lankan government to be its bulwark against what is perceives as western interference in Sri Lankan affairs. The Sri Lankan government will need India’s support in the forthcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva if the Expert Panel’s recommendation that the pro government resolution of 2009 is not to be revisited.

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