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by U. E. Perera

My eminent political guru of the Peradeniya University, Prof. A. J. Wilson who dedicated his life to induce matured political enlightenment to his pupils and students, commenting on the ethnic problem of Sri Lanka in his widely acclaimed but controversial thesis "The break up of Sri Lanka" said: "The war may take several years for a final decision.

The longer it takes, the more likely it is that a separate state will emerge. In the interim it is probable that patchwork compromises will be implemented, with New Delhi acting as the monitoring agent, but this cannot continue for ever. Compromise agreements will, as history has repeated shown, not be honoured on a permanent basis.

The war will be resumed. The partition of Sri Lanka is already a fact of history".

Professor A. J. Wilson made this calculated observation in March 1988 after giving deep thought and consideration to the events which emerged at that time. During this period of history he was not only an onlooker of the events that took place on the political stage but was also an active participant in moulding some of the policies of the Executive Presidency.

He was one of the unofficial constitutional advisers to the Executive President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene and strongly believed in the then political circles as the intermediary between the President and the Tamil United Liberation Front and one of two vice-chairpersons of the Presidential Commission on Development Councils (1979-80).

The above analytical observation made by Prof. A. J. Wilson as far back as in 1988 shows the gravity of the present problem we are faced with and the sensational issues that will come up with conflict resolution.

The ethnic issue of Sri Lanka has reached this melting point, after passing several decades of communal politics in Sri Lanka. It came to a climax in the period of 1955-56 just before the General Elections of 1956.

The organized left in Sri Lanka which was a mass movement during this period took a very correct, principles stand on the language issue and fought for "parity of status'. the left predicted that the slogan of "Sinhala Only" will ultimately pave the way for a division of the country.

The historic speeches made by Dr. N. M. Perera, S. A. Wickremasinghe, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva. Pieter Keuneman and Leslie Gunawardena in the House of Representatives were signals given to the nation that the situation of the country will reach the point of no return if Sinhalese is made the only official language of the country.

The Sinhala Only Act deprived several rights and privileges hitherto enjoyed by the Tamil public servants. The Sinhala Only Act made the proficiency of Sinhala compulsory in the Civil Service. As a result of this the Tamil Public Servants were forced to learn the Sinhalese Language or to leave employment. Tamil citizens were not encouraged to join the armed forces or the Police. The policy of standardization which was introduced into the educational reforms in 1970 as well raised negative issues.

Outburst of racial riots in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1983 resulted in further communal hatred and this led to a large number of men, women and children being mercilessly massacred, their property destroyed and thousands were made refugees.

During the last five decades several attempts were made by our leaders with the intention of resolving the conflict. The Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam pact of 1957, Senanayake and Chelvanayagam pact of 1965 are two significant agreements reached in this connection.

The proposed District Councils, Development Councils and Regional Councils never reached the final phase. All were miserable disasters. The Tamil people think that the Sinhalese leadership is not serious and straight forward in dealing with this burning problem.

From their standpoint of view, the Sinhalese Leadership is reluctant to take any meaningful step to resolve the conflict. It should be mentioned here that even the demand for a separate state of Eelam also came into being due to the non cooperation of the Sinhalese leadership. The then Federal Party made several genuine attempts for reconciliation but there was no direct response from the other end.

Up to 1972 the political strategy of the Federal Party was to seek a federal solution within a united Sri Lanka. The leadership of the Federal party never advocated a separate state. The leadership and the rank and file of the Federal party launched a strong campaign against Sunderalingam in 1960s who carried on his political campaign on a manifesto of Ealam, an independent Tamil state and successfully ensured his defeat.

At this critical juncture, the Tamil Leadership found that there was no meaning in agitating for their rights as separate entities.

They decided to close ranks and in 1972, the Tamil United Front was formed. In 1976 the Tamil United Front was replaced by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). Subsequently, the TULF national convention which was held in Vaddukoddai unanimously resolved "that the restoration and reconstitution of the free sovereign secular socialist state of Tamil Ealam based on the right of self-determination inherent in every nation has become inevitable in order to safeguard the very existence of the Tamil nation in this country".

Thus we can see that the demand for a separate state of Eelam came into being because of lack of leadership and statesmen like qualities of our political leaders.

With the formation of the present government the situation and the objective conditions for the resolution of the conflict have favourably changed. The present international situation, meaningful steps taken by the new government to raise confidence in the Tamil Leadership and the change in attitude of the Tamil militants have created an atmosphere friendly to a negotiated settlement.

The ceasefire agreement, removal of landmines, opening of strategical roads to northern and Eastern Provinces, the work of foreign monitors, visits made by Cabinet Ministers to the Northern and Eastern Provinces, spectacular visit made by the Hon Prime Minister to Jaffna, visits made by the Foreign Secretaries of State to the affected areas, continuous international vigilance and gradual restoration of normal life in affected areas are encouraging signs of a positive change.

The Ceasefire Agreement is only the beginning for a long-term solution. An issue which has aggravated for a period of five decades cannot be resolved "within twenty four hours". The issue is "globalised" now. U.S.A. India, UK, Norway, France and several other countries and their diplomatic missions here are vigilant and have a voice in the moves taken by the government and the LTTE.

World wide human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Red Alert have their own measurements and reservations to contribute. However, all these countries and organizations are agreed on a principle ie Sri Lanka should not be divided. All they say is to resolve the problem within a united Sri Lanka.

The much awaited solutions should emerge within a unitary form of government.

At this critical juncture, we have arrived at the doorstep of a break up of Sri Lanka. My Guru in political science Prof. A. J. Wilson predicted this catastrophe as far back as 1988. The present exercise of the government headed by Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe is meant to stop the deterioration of the state. With all these current moves in hand the ultimate aim of the government is to stop the break-up of Sri Lanka.

In this conflict resolution, the government should take all necessary measures within its capacity to seek the active co-operation of all the political parties, within and outside the parliament.

The new Prime Minister has already declared that the final move will go before a referendum. At the last resort the decision makers will be the people-the electorate.

As the electorate has already given a mandate for PEACE, the pace package will be endorsed by a vast majority of the people of Sri Lanka. The ugly war should come to an end.

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