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The need to break new ground

This time round could it be truly said that the Sinhala and Tamil New Year dawns on a hopeful note. This year, this threadbare cliche which is ritualistically repeated at the dawn of Avurudu, rings true. For, there is a prolonged and welcome lull in the North-East theatre of war. The unilateral ceasefire which was launched on February 24th is continuing to hold without any major disruptions and the possibility is high of a negotiated political settlement being worked out to the ethnic conflict.

This widespread hope and desire for a new dawn of peace and reconciliation, however, has to be translated into reality and this is not something politicians and national policy planners alone could realise. This is also a task for the people of this country - the ultimate decision-makers whose voice no politician or decision-maker could afford to ignore.

The heavily-armed Tiger cadres who kept close watch on their leader V. Prabhakaran, while he spoke to the press recently in Kilinochchi, and the irate reactions some of his comments drew from some Southern quarters, are a measure of the barriers in understanding and communication which remain to be broken if a conclusive climate for the peace process is to be established in Sri Lanka. The armed young men of the North relentlessly pursuing the dream of a separate state, which is unattainable, and those persons and groups of Southern Sri Lanka who wouldn't just hear of governments granting the inalienable rights of minority communities, are equally lacking in wisdom, knowledge and foresight. These strands of opinion are two extremes which have been stoking the flames of war in this country. All that these long years of war have achieved, of course, is bloodshed and destruction.

Fortunately, broad opinion trends reflected in the last two elections sufficiently prove that the people overwhelmingly desire a negotiated settlement, despite some voices of unreason and doubt. It should be our resolve this Avurudu season to gain strength from these developments and be peace-makers rather than be squabblers and rabble-rousers. Every man, woman and child need to take it on themselves to light a candle rather than curse the darkness.

The people need to build their spiritual resources this New Year season. They need to take the message of peace and brotherhood to the farthest corners of the country, so that the young men nursing their assault rifles in silent suspicion in the battle-scarred North-East and those irate rabble rousers of the South who fail to notice the dignity of "the Other", would see the futility of confrontation and appreciate the need for co-operation.

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