World Peace Day message:

APRC making significant progress

A message from Professor Tissa Vitarana, (Minister of Science and Technology) the Chairman of the All Party Representative Committee, for World Peace Day which falls today.

PEACE: On this World Peace Day it is the fervent hope of all Sri Lankans that we would be able to see the dawn of a lasting peace in our country. This requires a settlement of the national question to the satisfaction of all our people.

I am glad that the President has set up an All Party Conference which has brought in most of the political parties that are represented in the Parliament.

It is unfortunate that the TNA are not participating and in my opinion their presence too would strengthen this process.

The fact that the All Party Conference has set up a committee of representatives form the various parties, to work out a consensus document that would address the core issues that need to be resolved is a significant step.

As the Chairman of this All Party Representatives Committee, I am happy to state that the representatives of the various political parties have cooperated in a meaningful manner to discuss the issues in a frank and friendly way. I am only sorry that the UNP has not nominated a representative to participate in the APRC.

The APRC has agreed on an agenda and consensus has been reached on who the stakeholders are, with regard to the problem in the North and the East and also in the country, as a whole.

The representatives of the different political parties have raised the various issues and problems facing the different stakeholders.

In order to address these problems, the devolution process has been the next subject on the agenda. At the moment the representatives of most of the political parties have expressed their views on devolution.

These views are listened to by the representatives of the other political parties with a sense of mutual respect, on the basis of the exchange of ideas that has taken place, I feel that there is a better understanding developing of each others' positions.

I am hopeful that through this process we will be able to work out some degree of consensus on the question of devolution of power, both at the centre and at the periphery.

The approach has been one where the problem is being viewed as being a common national problem that we as representatives of the different political parties, need to address and work out a solution without depending on any one outside to do that for us.

At the same time there is also the awareness that the grievances of all the citizens whether they be Tamil, Muslim or Sinhala should be addressed to their satisfaction. The question here is not one, of trying to satisfy the LTTE.

But rather to satisfy the needs of the Tamil people, along with the other people of Sri Lanka. At an appropriate time we are hoping to get the views of the committee of Experts, which has been set up by the President to facilitate the process.

If this exercise can result in a consensus document that addresses the core issues to the satisfaction of those affected, particularly the Tamil people, then it would gain the support of the Tamil people.

This would then generate a pressure on the LTTE to genuinely and seriously participate in talks that address the core issues.

It would also get the support of the international community. Further, the argument which has always been raised by the LTTE that there was no point in working out an agreement that addresses the core issues with any government, because the opposition was not a party to it, and when that opposition assumed governmental power it would not observe that agreement, cannot be sustained by the LTTE any longer.

Therefore it is particularly important that the two main political parties, (the SLFP and the UNP) be a party to this consensus document.

The above course of action is the one that is going to achieve a lasting peace in our country. There is no military solution to the national question.

It is only by negotiation that we can work out a sustainable solution. In the short term, there is the need to bring the currently accelerating violations of the CFA to an end.

There is a need to hold discussions to work out a Ceasefire Agreement that does not have the shortcomings of the earlier ceasefire agreement which was reportedly violated without any way of controlling such violations.

To achieve this, it is necessary that the LTTE clearly appreciates that there is no way in which it can militarily establish a separate State. It must give up these efforts to bring in arms and pursue that objective.

The international community must prevail on them to give up that course of action. It is in such a context that it will be possible to resume discussions to establish a durable ceasefire agreement with suitable amendments to the existing one.

I hope that all the forces that are provoking a situation of war, the war mongers and those who are whipping up racial hatred will not succeed in their endeavour and that the people of Sri Lanka will support the President and the government and all the political parties that are genuinely working towards achieving a lasting peace in our country.