A sound start to finding peace

A positive start has been made to the establishment of the long-elusive Southern consensus on resolving our ethnic tangle with all parties at the inaugural All Party Conference called by President Mahinda Rajapakse agreeing that the negotiatory process with the LTTE on finding a solution should be launched forthwith.

This could be considered a resounding 'yes' to peace and a strong rebuff to those detractors who consider the Mahinda Rajapakse administration as being unenthusiastic about forging ahead on the negotiatory path.

Considering the multiplicity of political parties which have thus called for immediate peace talks - barring the TNA- it could be said that the democratic sections of our polity are largely unanimous on the issue of negotiating an end to our problem.

Where - it could be asked - is the much feared "hawkishness" in particularly Southern Sri Lanka? Here is proof that the Lankan polity is on the whole peace-oriented and not desirous of pursuing a military solution to our conflict.

These revelatory developments, while reflecting well on the Mahinda Rajapakse administration is also a strong vindication of President Rajapakse's position that a negotiated solution should be found to the conflict.

One of the inferences which could be drawn from these developments is that there are not many takers for war.

Lankan opinion is largely pro-peace and the time should be seen as right to call the Tigers to the conference table and hammer out a solution with them which would be fair by all our communities.

No doubt, we have a long way to go before we could rest from our labours in the peace-making sphere, but a very propitious start has been made and we call on all relevant parties in this context to be consistent in their efforts from now on to arrive at an equitable solution.

The momentum in working out a solution should not only be sustained but increased in the days ahead.

There is, of course, the volatile and unpredictable LTTE to deal with. The LTTE's willingness to cooperate in finding peace is, indeed, a troubling poser, but the onus would be very much on the Tigers from now on to collaborate in the peace effort.

If it does not, the LTTE will stand exposed as nothing more than a terror outfit which is orientated towards self-aggrandisement and power.

Such a development would only prove which many have been suspecting right along - that the Tigers have no support base among the Tamil people worth speaking of and cannot profess to project their concerns.

We hope the LTTE understood very clearly, Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin Mcguinness' principal position that a prolonged, armed rebellion would only prove counter productive as time goes on.

Today, the IRA in Northern Ireland, which had a long-running war with the British government, has decided to down arms and give a power-sharing deal with their Protestant antagonists a try.

A crucial consideration in this decision is the realisation that an armed insurrection does not help in resolving a purely political problem in the long run. We hope the LTTE would benefit by these insights.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Lankan polity would need to realise that a solution which is not based on power-sharing and mutual accommodation would be difficult to work out. Southern Sri Lanka would need to think beyond popular slogans and habitual ideological fixations.

There is a price to be paid for peace and this must be met. However, the geographical oneness of Sri Lanka is non-negotiable.