A just solution needed in Trinco

IT is encouraging news that the Government is not only committed to enforcing law and order in Trincomalee but is also aiming at achieving a just solution to the problem at the root of the tension in the district. This is sound policy and we hope swift action would be taken by the State to implement it rigorously.

It is plain to see that divisive political forces are at work in Trincomalee - forces that are probably aiming at widening the conflict, with its religious and ethnic connotations, to other areas of the country.

If so, the conflict in Trincomalee should be nipped in the bud and prevented from degenerating into a more generalized one which would spell another period of turbulence for this land.

The two prongs in Government policy are of equal significance. While law and order should be stringently sustained, giving no quarter to mischief makers and saboteurs, whoever they may be, a just solution which would be fair by all parties to the conflict, needs to be evolved to the problem. A solution which is not seen to be fair, by all relevant parties, is likely to only keep Trincomalee on the boil.

Our own experiences over the past two decades in the area of ethnic tensions and identity-based conflicts should teach us that the ordinary citizens of Sri Lanka are free of religious and ethnic biases.

However, ethnic and religious hatred is fanned by those who stand to gain politically by the deepening of such divisions.

Such interests are microscopic in number but the devastation and damage they perpetrate is enormous and mind-numbing. July 1983 is a case in point. This is the reason why no quarter should be given to these parasitic elements who are fretting to deepen Lanka's divisions by pitting one community against the other.

The political dynamics in such situations are for the parasitic elements or mischief makers concerned to demonize entire communities by projecting them as being hostile towards and working against the interests of one's own community. Thereby they enlarge their following or their support bases.

Provocative acts and hate speech are directed against one's perceived enemies, to consolidate these support bases. The result, as we have seen, is catastrophic turmoil.

We make no bones of the fact that these purveyors of hate are present in almost all communities. They should be brought to justice with the least delay.

Meanwhile, all communities need to be proactively involved in Trincomalee in defusing the current tensions. President Kumaratunga has already called for the formation of such Peace Committees and this is a step in the right direction.

The general public desires peace and harmony and it is important that the people are inducted into mechanisms which could help keep the peace.

These committees need to be consistently vigilant in Trincomalee in particular on account of its delicate ethnic mix. A special effort needs to be made to defuse tensions before they prove uncontrollable.