Perhaps dependence was the wrong term to use. I actually thought long and hard about actually using it myself, the word I actually want to use to describe the relationship between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is one that I find hard pressed to think of right now. So, admittedly, that is a poor choice of wording on my part.
I honestly doubt that India's concern had to do with terrorism, or infiltration from it's southern border. It is security related though, as it has always been whenever either Pakistan or China are concerned. SL has been for a long time, in the arms of Pakistan and China, it's only recently that SL has been making more truly independent choices, SL succumbing to Indian pressure isn't surprising, as that is the cost of trying to remain neutral between Pakistan and India (that may sound contradictory, but considering how close SL-Pakistan relations are, it show that SL doesn't want to get involved between the Pakistan-India rivalry). Now, admitted, I am going to be speculating here, so here goes; If SL did this without addressing Pakistan concerns, or taking Pakistan into confidence, I have no doubt that there would be a diplomatic cooling between the two nations.
I think, what this all boils down to is our disagreement on India's political and strategic goal. Your argument is simply that it relates to India's fear of infiltration by Pakistani agents, and my argument is that it has more to do with India's fear of being surrounded by nations that have close relations with it's rivals (namely China and Pakistan).
I disagree here.
Your view of India remains coloured by the status and actions of how things were till the 90's. Among the many themes of that time, India's insecurity on these issues was also an issue then.
India used to have that fear for decades but for a while now, they have been reduced.
Our South Asian neighbours realized that many of India's actions were because of that fear of being encircled by India.
Geo-polity and its actions are very globalized. With/because of India's economic and political ascent in the comity of Nations since the late 90's, the tone, tenor and attitude of all our neighbours has changed towards India.
Consequently, they moved the extra mile to allay our fears and they have been much addressed.
I will give you examples(as always) to prove my point.
India had a fear that the Chinese will use Myanmar, Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan to surround us.
Now,
- As our power has grown, we have eliminated and subdued those inimical to Indian interests in foreign countries.
The absolute campaign we ran to ensure defeat of Khaleda Zia and literal persecution of Jamaate-e-Islami led to The only political party in Bangladesh that was openly hostile to India and who directly indulged in acts of aggression against Indian NE, Khaleda Zia of BNP, who today indirectly apologises for its past behaviour and asks for India to have good relations with them.
Bangladesh’s Khaleda Zia seeks to revamp India ties - Livemint
- Sri Lanka has openly declared while giving a port contract to China that
no port of Sri Lanka has been or will be given to China for military deployement. They have unequivocally stated that they shall take no action that directly or indirectly impinges Indian security.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in an interview has said that he will not allow
any country to act against the interests of India from its soil
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa says he won't allow anti-India acts : Asia, News - India Today
-Myanmar went a step further and has asked Indian Navy to physically come and check Coco Islands - the base that everyone said had been given to Chinese intelligence.
Not just that, India and Myanmar had
joint military action to take out Indian insurgents
in Mayanmar(border region).
India takes up with Myanmar reports of China 'base' - NDTV
- Maldives and Mauritious are practically protectorates of India.
You might think that Pakistan supporting Lanka in its war civil war was a blow to India, but I am sure you did not know that
while Lanka was busy eliminating LTTE on land, it was the Indian Navy that was out in force to identify and give the location of the floating depot's of LTTE( LTTE stocked most of its weapons and ammo over the water), and interdicting new shipments coming to them. For political reasons(Tamil Nadu) we can not support Lanka officially or take even a remotely anti-LTTE stance, but India has wanted LTTE dead for a
long time.
The only thing SL did unexpected was in the last phase of their war, it committed crimes on civilian Tamil population by indiscriminate heavy shelling and firing.
India however has not feared any relations of Pakistan with other Indian neighbours(apart from Bangladesh when Zia was the PM) simply because no neighbour would go against Indian interests to side with Pakistan. Your view is coloured by the time when Pakistan was an equal geopolitical counterweight of India and always checkmated Indian advances(something I admired in Pakistan). Those days are now gone. India has changed and our concerns and interests are taken a little more seriously than before.
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Read between the lines here, will you? It's not just about what Pakistan is saying, it's about what Pakistan isn't saying. It's called a mutual understanding, and like I said, I pretty much think this entire thing was done by taking Pakistan into confidence.
The very fact that Pakistan has not protested this, the very fact that Pakistan has not said that it wants SL to reconsider, the fact that Pakistan has pretty much accepted that those people will be sent back to Pakistan, pretty much should tell you of what Pakistan thinks of the situation.
There has been a reaction to this, look at the words being used to describe the asylum seekers? "Badmouth", that alone tells you a whole lot about what Pakistan thinks about this entire situation.
It would be hard for me to prove anything here. Pakistan was not taken into confidence here. The foreign spokesperson clearly said that she had
"no idea'' on actions taken by Lanka, though she did know that the refugees were "badmouthing" Pakistan. Every refugee in the world badmouths their native country. Pakistani refugees have been going to Canada, Australia, US, Europe, there is nothing new that was happening in Lanka.
Secondly I ask you again, do you think Lanka's actions were commensurate with the less-than-a-drop
1500 refugees? And if not, then what was the cause.
This doesn't really change anything, as it's the opinion of one official,nothing more. The fact that the article writers go on to say that his opinion is unsubstantiated, actually further enhances my argument.
That one official is the Controller of Immigration and Emigration, not a run-of-the-mill government babu. I would reckon that you take the opinion of such an
extremely high ranking official a little more seriously.
I have given you everything - from what has been reported in India, to what has been reported in Lanka apart from the official statement of GoSL, which in any case is not expected to say to Pakistan the truth about India in this affair
as well as the statements of Controller of Immigration and Emigration,, of Sri Lanka.
You are dismissing
everything as circumstantial and pining your statement and assumption on Pakistan being 'taken in confidence' despite your foreign office spokesperson clearly saying that she has 'no idea' on Lanka's actions, just that she is aware that the refugees were badmouthing.