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Consensus and confidence-building

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's recent statement to the effect that all shades of opinion would be taken into account in working out a solution to the ethnic conflict should have had a reassuring effect on the Lankan public. This amounts to a pledge that a democratic, consensual approach would be adopted by the Government in pursuing peace.

Getting down to details, the Prime Minister said that Cabinet approval would be sought for a common agreement on resolving the conflict, which would be arrived at through a consultation process with all parties to the conflict. Diverse opinion on the conflict, whether for or against the Government's peace effort, is expected to be consulted.

These assurances by the Premier came after talks he held with Tamil MPs in Parliament. Apparently some vital issues thrown up by the peace process have been discussed, with the Prime Minister mentioning that a Working Committee, comprising Government and PA MPs would be set up to enlist the cooperation of the PA in the peace effort.

A democratic, consensual approach of this kind is what is vitally needed because unless and until Southern Sri Lanka is united behind the Government's peace drive, the LTTE and other sections of the Tamil public are unlikely to repose their trust in it. The Tamil people need to be fully convinced that there wouldn't be any reneging on the agreement that is arrived at and unity of opinion and purpose in the South is an essential precondition for this confidence.

It couldn't be emphasised enough that opposition backing is crucial to the success of the peace effort. We have witnessed the crumbling of past peace initiatives on account of opportunistic opposition to them on the part of the opposition political forces. This time round, Sri Lanka badly needs to launch a united peace effort which wouldn't prove vulnerable to future sabotage efforts and a Southern consensus is an effective means of achieving this end.

We also note that satisfactory progress has been achieved in setting up the necessary mechanisms to resolve areas of dispute in the peace process which have arisen between the Government and the LTTE. The non-deployment of troops in school buildings, kovils and other institutions in the North-East is one of these. Once again, close consultation between the parties could prove useful even on these issues.

However, it is vitally important that concrete progress is achieved in these consultations. The dialogue process although important, couldn't be seen as going on aimlessly. Real positive progress in as short a time as possible is the ideal. For, hard negotiations on resolving the conflict should begin in the near future if the people's peace expectations are not to be defeated. The need for early, concrete and positive results cannot be emphasised enough.

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