Local polls endorse peace

Peace: As the Swiss and Norwegian embassies in Colombo are busy making arrangements for the second round of talks between the UPFA government and the LTTE in Geneva, the outcome of the local poll has endorsed the countrymen's desire for peace and their steadfast stance towards supporting the peace process.

Even one of the political big wigs of the LTTE in Killinochchi V.Balakumar has said soon after the poll results were announced that the victory of the UPFA has indicated the overall support for the peace process from every nook and corner of the country.

It was in the Presidential poll last year that the JVP and the JHU formed an alliance with the SLFP and created the victory for President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

However in the local poll the JVP and the JHU contested separately and were harsh towards President Rajapaksa's approach towards the peace process.

But the outcome of the election has indicated that the people are very much for the peace efforts put forward by the Rajapaksa government.

So the local poll results has kept away the chauvinist campaign in the South and strengthened the hands of President Rajapaksa in finding peace in the country. It is only a few days more for the beginning of the second round of talks on the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government and the LTTE in Geneva.

Several changes have occurred with regard to the peace effort in the country.

Hagrup Haukland who was heading the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) ended his tenure last week and he was succeeded by Swedish Major General Ulf Henricsson as the new Chief of the SLMM.

Hagrup Haukland who was a Brigadier in the Norwegian Army was in Sri Lanka since the CFA came into effect in 2002. He had served under two Chiefs of Mission and later became the Head of the Mission handling the overall activities of the SLMM in the land as well as seas in the war-torn North and East.

It was when Hagrup Haukland headed the SLMM the CFA which came into effect was under severe threat and the attacks in the North and East last year had escalated terribly with a large number of killings including two senior legislators, Lakshman Kadirgamar and Joseph Pararajasingam.

As the Head of the SLMM, Haukland made several shuttle trips between Colombo and Killinochchi to calm down the situation. He also played a key role in the resumption of talks between the LTTE and the Government in Geneva last February.

So with bringing the LTTE and the Government to the negotiating table and there are a few more days for the second round of talks in Geneva Haukland bid farewell to the members of his Mission introducing his successor Major General Ulf Henricsson from Sweden last week.

It was after the first round of talks in Geneva, Norway also brought a change in the position of its special envoy to Sri Lanka Erik Solheim. Jon Hansen Bauer who is considered a veteran in handling peace negotiations with his experience in handling the Palestine-Israel talks was appointed as the successor to Erik Solheim.

In Colombo two new appointments were made at the Peace Secretariat with Palitha Kohona as the new Head of the Secretariat and Ketheeswaran Loganathan as his deputy.

Ketheeswaran Loganathan with his background as a leading figure in the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) participated even at the first ever peace talks between the Government and the Tamil militants in Thimpu, Bhutan in 1984. Being an old boy of St.Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, Loganathan could be considered a person with wider knowledge with regard to the politics of North and East as well as the politics in the South.

So with the conclusion of the local poll the UPFA government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa has received the people's mandate again to move forward with confidence in the peace process. The local poll this time paved the way to read the pulse of the villager over the peace initiatives. The villages in the South had suffered enormously as a large number of youth who were killed in the two decades of war were from there.

Several hamlets bordering the North and East region came under attacks and a large number of innocent civilians were massacred at the height of the North and East clashes.

However the verdict at the local poll had indicated that the village folks were wiser in taking meaningful decisions. They were not carried away by the campaigns carried out with attacks on the Norwegian facilitation and the talks with the LTTE.

Therefore it is now the Government's turn to play its role in fulfilling the people's desire for peace with the beginning of the second round of talks in Geneva after the dawn of the Sinhala-Tamil New Year.