Staying the course to peace

"PLEASE STAY THE COURSE". This is President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's request to her countrymen on the eve of her leaving office, while discussing issues relating the country's conflict with the Indian national daily The Hindu.

The President was stressing the importance of the Sri Lankan polity persisting with the peace effort which she contributed much towards establishing. The peace process, the President explained, is irreversible although it could suffer "temporary deformities", as is happening at present.

Nevertheless, the lunatic fringe is active and these sections could deflect the polity from its onward thrust to a negotiated settlement.

This observation too is not wrong of the present but these adverse currents could be defeated if the people exercise a degree of perspicacity and insight in their handling of the National Question.

As the President has indicated, we could stay on course and clinch victory in our pursuit of a negotiated settlement if we "do not get misled by the cacophony of the extremists."

This is a highly realistic attitude towards the problems at hand. Given that the local and international opinion climates, in the main, are not promotive of secessionist violence, the peace process in Sri Lanka could be expected to be irreversible but much harm could be done to our peace prospects if extremist opinion is allowed to gain the upper hand in the war of ideas triggered by the Lankan conflict.

The strand of thinking we have in mind consists of militant ultra-nationalistic sentiments which are finding fertile soil among some sections in both Northern and Southern Sri Lanka. This is the "cacophony" referred to by President Kumaratunga.

While Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakase has adopted the correct course by pledging himself to a negotiated solution, it must be remembered that an administration under him must go more than just "the extra mile" to work out a settlement based on power devolution, if Sri Lanka is to avoid the convulsions that separatism has been breeding over the years.

To achieve this, ultra-nationalistic forces may need to be defeated in both the South and the North - more particularly in the South because power is currently centralised in this half of the country.

As we see it, we need to not only "stay the course" but exert ourselves as never before if the conflict is to be contained within manageable limits. Let's not fool ourselves into believing that talking about the need for peace alone is going to serve us in good stead.

Today, there is considerable apprehension in Southern Sri Lanka on what power devolution really entails. Such anxieties on which extremist opinion thrives, have their roots in ignorance and an inability to comprehend the points at issue.

These problems in turn are traceable to the lack of a vibrant public discourse on the issues that really matter in the ethnic conflict.

Enlightening the public on these finer issues, is a task mainly for the State. The State could be said to have handled its responsibilities in this context in a rather apathetic, half-hearted fashion.

This is a principal reason why there is considerable ignorance on the nature of devolution, for instance.

So, formidable challenges await the country and central Governments could no longer sidestep them for the purpose of scoring political points. Let truth prevail.