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Reconciliation for permanent peace

Calm has descended on Trincomalee after the unnerving incidents of Friday. Three died and nearly 40 including two Policemen were injured in the disturbances which spread throughout the East's biggest city and its environs. A heavy military presence has been in place since then to ensure the peace.

It is now clear that the incidents grew from the protests staged in Trincomalee against the deaths that occurred at Kanchirankuda in the Ampara district. Six people died there when Police Special Task Force personnel were compelled to open fire at a mob that stormed their camp. There is considerable outrage over the incident among the Tamil community in the East and protests against the incident have been held throughout the province.

The urban population of Trincomalee has a high percentage of Sinhalese and the rural areas have a mixture of Tamils and Muslims. For the central government Trincomalee is of vital strategic importance because of its famed port. The separatists believe that if a separate state were to be carved out Trincomalee would be its natural capital. Therefore, Trincomalee has been the focus of attention in the 20-year civil war.

When the clashes began in Trincomalee there was significant fear that this could lead to a breakdown of the ceasefire between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The old atmosphere of fear returned even to Colombo as rumours were spread rapidly, perhaps by some interested parties bent on creating mischief.

Two things emerged as soon as the incidents stopped by early afternoon on Friday. The government responded rapidly, deploying the Armed Forces to prevent an escalation and placing the situation in the hands of a senior General. The impartial manner the Armed Forces acted is to be commended. In turn the LTTE also made several statements emphasising that isolated incidents such as those in Trincomalee and Kanchirankuda would not derail the peace process.

No doubt there were sighs of relief when the clashes stopped. But the incidents serve to remind us the fact that the negotiating process has begun is no guarantee to peace and that we still need to do much more to ensure that peace is firmly established.

On the ground the LTTE cadres and the armed forces personnel who have fought each other for two decades will not find it easy to immediately go into a mode that is devoid of all hostility. The efforts of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to ensure that violations of the ceasefire are kept to a minimum is vital to the process and in the main, the men with the guns have acted with restraint. But there will be the occasional cadre who will react with violence.

Today's situation, which is suspended between war and peace, is somewhat of a twilight zone. Most people in the country would wish that the guns have fallen silent forever, but these wishes must be tempered with caution.

In this context there are the small number of extremists who would want a return to hostilities for their own reasons. It needs only a few troublemakers to create mayhem and endanger the entire peace process.

All the peace-loving citizens in this country who want a safe future for their children therefore have to be on their guard. The current state may have caused emotions to be bottled up and it may take little for these feelings to rise to the top and cause violence. Obviously a long drawn out process of reconciliation is necessary for a permanent peace.

Until then let's take care that no small incident is allowed to disrupt the progression towards peace.

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