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Thursday, 27 December 2001  
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Peace making in earnest

The new government has given a sound start to the peace process.

It has made its intentions clear both to the international community and to the nation.

The Prime Minister in his official visit to India has been able to enlist the complete support of the Indian government to his proposals for peace.

India has agreed to play a decisive role in the whole process.

According to the Prime Minister, the Norwegian facilitation will also be upgraded with the participation of the Norwegian Prime Minister.

Britain, United States and Japan have already welcomed the government's initiative.

The Government has also decided to seek the assistance of other political parties in order to build a broad consensus.

It is the duty of all peace loving forces to assist the government in this mission.

Contemporary international experience and modern theory on Conflict Resolution envisage a multi-track approach to conflict resolution. This holds good especially for violent or armed internal conflicts.

Track I comprises international organizations like the UN and its agencies and governments. This is the official Track. It is decisive.

In the case of Sri Lanka, this official track is now active.

It could be and must be assisted by the other two tracks.

Track II or the unofficial track involves NGOs, academics, religious leaderships, the business community etc. This includes middle leaders as opposed to the top leaders in Track I.

last but not least is Track III, which involves grassroots level organizations such as peace lobbies in the conflict zone.

We would urge immediate activisation of Track II and Track III approaches so as to complement and facilitate the peace process initiated by the government.

Many internal conflicts that were resolved in the recent past made use of this multi-track approach. For example, South Africa and Mozambique used all three tracks to the best advantage.

Our own experience suggests that Track II and Track III approaches are of decisive significance in obtaining the approval of the people for whatever agreement that is reached at the top level by the government and the other party to the conflict.

Peace making is not easy. It is an arduous task, a challenge that could be undertaken only by the brave.

Yet the dividends of peace are worth all the sacrifices made in search for it.

In this season of peace, we call upon all persons of goodwill to commit themselves to the task of making peace and engage themselves in whatever possible way to bring peace near to our embattled land.


 
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