Trincomalee Harbour is recognised as an unspoken part of New Delhi’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
THE new Framework Agreement on Trincomalee oil tank farms, to be based on the agreement of January 2022, was among a slew of pacts signed during Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent visit to India. It is a grand plan for turning the Trincomalee Harbour and region into an energy hub.
This harbour is the geo-strategic crown jewel of Sri Lanka’s vital assets. It is the world’s fourth largest natural deep sea harbour and New Delhi has eyed it for decades. Along with the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord (ISLA), letters were exchanged between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then President JR Jayewardene, stating that Trincomalee or any other port in Sri Lanka would not be made available for military use by any country prejudicial to India’s security. It also mentioned that India would consider armed intervention if diplomacy failed.
Besides creating provincial councils, the ISLA amalgamated Northern and Eastern provinces into the North-East provincial council, not just because the Eastern province was Tamil-dominated, but also as the Trincomalee Harbour was located there. The Sri Lankan Security Forces had one red line that was to be held at all costs — the line north of Trincomalee Harbour to Vavuniya and beyond. For the Lankan forces, this harbour was never to be lost to the enemy. Further, in 2003, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, after hearing a bunch of petitions, separated the Eastern province from the North-East provincial council as the ISLA had made a two-year provision for a referendum over jointness which was never held. A cordon sanitaire consisting of Sri Lankan Navy’s Eastern Command and an army division surrounded the harbour. During the ceasefire agreement in the 1990s, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had literally surrounded the harbour from Sampur in the south to opposite Trincomalee Fort in the north.
This harbour is 40-m deep and can shelter warships, aircraft carriers and large merchant vessels. It has one of the world’s most elaborate underground ammunition depots, pillboxes and artillery emplacements. Singapore has constructed a flourishing wheat flour mill that is Sri Lanka’s bread basket. But the key assets are 99 oil tank farms (OTFs) of World War II era, some of which have been restored. During the Indian Peace-Keeping Force’s (IPKF) 30 months in Sri Lanka, its 36 Infantry Division was deployed around them, with the harbour being used for logistics by sea. Later, 57 Mountain Division, which I commanded, took charge of Trincomalee when the IPKF was being withdrawn as it was one of the two de-induction hubs in 1989-90. The IPKF had concerns about potential security threats, including the possibility of attacks by the LTTE or other disgruntled Tamil groups.
In 2003, Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) was created to repair, maintain and operate 14 of 99 OTFs. They were leased for 35 years, with India paying an unknown annual subsidy to Sri Lanka. A new agreement was signed in January 2022 on the eve of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s Colombo visit. The division of OTF assets was in three parts: the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) was allotted 24 OTFs, LIOC would continue operating 14 OTFs, and a new joint venture of the CPC, the newly created Trinco Petroleum Terminal (TPT) and LIOC, would activate the remaining 61 OTFs. Wickremesinghe has appointed former CDS Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne as Managing Director, CPC, and Chairman, TPT. Today, Lanka IOC operates 206 fuel stations across Sri Lanka and is a one-third partner in CPC storage terminals. The July 22 Framework Agreement is to expand infrastructure projects and also evaluate building a petroleum pipeline from the Indian mainland to Trincomalee.
The Trincomalee Harbour area was one of Britain’s biggest sea bases for its naval campaigns in the Far East. It is a model naval base, grand and awesome, that kept French and Dutch forays into Trincomalee Harbour at bay. Britain was reluctant to transfer the control of Trincomalee Harbour to Sri Lanka at the time of its independence in 1948. Britain did not quite attempt a Diego Garcia, but handed back the naval base and OTFs to Colombo only in 1957. Sri Lanka tried reviving OTFs by first inviting the US and later Singapore, but both turned down the offer to operate the OTFs. India seized the opportunity in 1987 with the ISLA.
Writing in the Colombo Telegraph last year, Rusiripala Tennakoon noted the problems of land lease and funding inadequacy of the CPC in the new agreement. More importantly, he observed that Sri Lanka’s objective over the years has been to ‘regain control’ of the OTFs and Trincomalee Harbour by developing the assets independently and not as a joint venture with India. In 2022, then Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila blamed previous governments for losing Trincomalee, but Tennakoon contends that such claims are fallacious in the light of letters exchanged between leaders after signing the ISLA.
The docking of a Chinese conventional submarine at Colombo Port in 2014 drew a strong protest from India. The Hambantota Port project was first offered to India in 2007. Unable to repay Chinese debt, Wickremesinghe as PM was forced to give the port on lease for 99 years to China. Wickremesinghe could also not prevent Chinese ‘spy’ ship Wuan Yang 5 from docking at Hambantota last year.
Speaking at a seminar last month on Sri Lanka’s strategic geography in the Indian Ocean, Vice Admiral Anup Singh (retd) said the Indian Navy could make former Chinese President Hu Jintao’s Malacca dilemma come true as 80 per cent of Chinese oil tankers passed below Hambantota. Trincomalee Harbour is recognised as an unspoken part of New Delhi’s Indo-Pacific strategy. The ISLA and Trincomalee Framework Agreement have revived and reinforced India’s vital interests in it. Equally, Colombo’s efforts to get New Delhi out of it will continue, but India’s footprint is likely to stay there.
On March 24, 1990, INS troop ship Magar lifted anchor from Trincomalee Harbour, carrying the last group of the IPKF. Sri Lanka’s then Defence Minister Ranjan Wijeratne, who bade them farewell, quickly called then President Premadasa to report that the last foreign soldier had left Sri Lankan soil. The harbour was back in Colombo’s control.