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Shameful discord in Colombo North

The disturbances in some areas of Colombo North on Wednesday which reportedly took on a communal hue, deserve to be denounced in the strongest terms. Their timing, which is unfortunate, reminds us of the need for eternal vigilance, now that concerted efforts are being made to put our shameful past of bloody ethnic discord behind us.

An urgent matter for the present is to ascertain whether these dark events were orchestrated by saboteurs of ethnic peace. If so, they need to be dealt with very rigorously under the law. There is every likelihood that destructive elements, eager to pit one community against the other with an eye to undermining the on-going peace process, would be on the look out for incendiary, explosive events which could be used to achieve their sinister aims.

Not only the Government and the law-enforcers, but every civic-conscious citizen needs to be watchfully alert for attempts by these destructive elements to plunge the country into ethnic strife once again.

At the heart of the disturbances on Wednesday was a dispute over the construction or renovation of an institution of religious instruction. The parties to the dispute may have easily resolved this problem through dialogue. However, tempers were made to rise by elements who were out to disturb the peace. Provocative acts were carried out by a couple of persons which plunged an entire township into a bedlam of violence.

Fortunately for the country, the law and order authorities acted swiftly to bring the situation under control. The immediate clamping of a local curfew, for instance, was commendable and we appreciate the fact that no less a person than IGP T. E. Anandarajah was on the scene, directing operations. It is this no-nonsense approach which prevented the riots from spreading, although the loss of a life is to be deeply regretted. We request that this firmness of approach be continued into the future.

We also call for the impartial enforcement of the law. It must be remembered that even an unfounded perception in some quarters that the law is not impartially enforced could lead to a devaluation of law and order agencies.

There is no evading the requirement to co-opt citizens into the peace keeping machinery at local level.

Specifically, peace committees of a multi-religious and multi-ethnic character need to be established and kept ticking islandwide if disturbances of this kind are to be contained. In other words, the people need to be made the stakeholders of peace. We learn that bodies of this nature are already operative in the East. The exercise needs to be replicated in other areas as well.

This task needs to be attended to with great urgency because the enemies of communal peace could be expected to be restless in proportion to which the peace process is taken forward. From now on, every responsible person needs to be vigilant, lest potential conflict situations are exploited for the furtherance of extremist agendas.

We hope the four-member inquiry committee which was appointed by the Government to probe the disturbances, would ensure the setting up of these peace committees, without further delay. These committees need to ensure that they don't confine themselves to a watch dog role, although this function is crucial. These bodies also need to proactively promote communal harmony in their respective areas of operation.

While nipping all potential communal conflicts in the bud, through trouble-shooting, these committees should initiate programs which would strengthen fraternal links among ethnic and religious groups.

The latter also need to liaise closely with law enforcers to ensure that law enforcement is expeditiously undertaken.

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