Voice of America editorial urges "dialogue with all parties, including Tamils inside and outside Sri Lanka"
Sri Lanka government should "promote justice and political reconciliation for all its citizens, and hold dialogue with all parties, including Tamils inside and outside Sri Lanka, on new mechanisms for devolving power," writes The Voice of America, in an editorial published on Sri Lanka's Independence Day on Feb 4, 2010:
Independence Day In Sri Lanka
by Voice of America (VOA News)
On February 4th Sri Lanka marks its 66nd anniversary as an independent country; first as the Dominion of Ceylon, and since 1972, as the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. This year's anniversary is significant, because it is the first since the end of the island nation's 26-year civil war.
Since gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1948, Sri Lanka has developed a mostly democratic system with 2 dominant political parties. However, one area that was perceived by many to be less than democratic was the Sri Lankan ruling majority's policies toward its Tamil population.
About 74 percent of the population of Sri Lanka is Sinhalese. At just under 13 percent, the Tamil population is the largest minority. The 2 groups have lived together for centuries, the chief differences between the 2 being language and religion. Nonetheless, since Sri Lanka gained its independence, relations between the Buddhist Sinhalese and the Hindu Tamil communities were increasingly strained, with the Tamil population fearing discrimination by the Sinhalese majority.
Their fears were confirmed in 1956, when the government passed laws declaring Sinhala as the country's official language. It was the first in a series of steps over the following decades that discriminated against the Tamils. As a result, a number of groups advocating independence for Tamils were formed, some of them violent, like the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE. Beginning in 1983, the LTTE waged a terrorist war against the Sri Lankan government, which finally ended on May 9, 2009 with the killing by the government army of the last of the LTTE leadership.
That is why this year, Sri Lanka's Independence Day is particularly important: it marks not only the emergence of Sri Lanka as an independent nation, it is also the first celebration of national unity since the end of the civil war.
The Sri Lankan government should take this opportunity to work toward achieving a lasting peace. It must promote justice and political reconciliation for all its citizens, and hold dialogue with all parties, including Tamils inside and outside Sri Lanka, on new mechanisms for devolving power.
Because only when all its citizens are equally represented in the government, and are equal before the law, can Sri Lanka truly live up to the promise of its democratic traditions. ~ courtesy: VOA News ~
VOA - An Editorial reflecting the views of the US Government
3 Comments
With the present defiant and arrogant attitude of the GOSL will talks ever work? It will be a waste of time and will be full of rhetoric.
There is no remorsefulness or repentance for the war crimes and civilian killings. How could talks ever work out with such defiance.
This is what Gotabaya Rajapakse said to BBC recently;
These are the people who [...] have other motives, asking [for investigations]. Whether it is United Nations or any other country, we are not - I am not - allowing any investigations in this country. There is no reason. Nothing wrong happened in this country. Take it from me. There will be no investigations for anything in this country. I will not allow [it]. That is not what public wants. That is not what this country wants.
"Don't ask anything about any investigation. Don't talk to me [on] any investigation. There will be no investigations in this country. Take it from me. I am the Secretary of Defence.
Economic sanctions and UN intervention are necessary first, to bring justice for the war crimes committed, before any talks can commence.
Highly unlikely. Present trend does not indicate any such reconcilliation. At the moment a political witchhunt is in progress against the opposition. Minorities are bystanders at the moment but may be the next victims.
The voice and the resolve of the Tamil diaspora is growing. The Global community is beginning to listen to them more intently. As matters stand, they remain divided along ideological lines. But the common factor of the love of their land; that they have a duty by their ancestors not to allow this sacred soil to be stolen; the need to maintain a connection between the country of their birth; the need to integrate these to the culture of their present generation grows stronger every day.
The illusion that the removal of the LTTE is the end of the Tamil struggle must be replaced with concrete steps to bring the Lankan Tamils to the national fold. Mendacity used to entice the Tamils in recent times with promises of massive infra-structure and ecnomic development in the North East should be replaced by visible action.
Taking revenge on them - overtly or covertly for voting against the Rajapakses in the recent Elections can be as
counter-productive as JRJs mistake in 1982. The recognition there were 2 nationalisms before the Colebrook-Cameron Commission's report and it needs to be restored - is the key to unity and peace. If some people cannot swallow the terms Federalism and devolution of power the answer lies in treating this prejudice - and not to indulge in the slow genocide of an ancient people.
India's geo-political stand can change anytime with a changing world, For GoSL to remain complacent, they are entirely with them can be costly at sometime in the future. Quislings in the Tamil fold enjoying State patronage should not be taken to fool the Sinhala people all Tamils are with them.
They are not - in as much as there are many among them who do not believe in a Separate State. Unless early steps are taken to restore unity, we might risk an undesirable solution imposed on us by a weary international community more intent on carrying on their life - regardless.
ISS