First: Tamil unity a must
Next: Southern consensus

President Mahinda Rajapaksa	Ranil Wickremesinghe
J.R. Jayewardene	A. Amirthalingam

The ethnic problem in our country urgently calls the need to affirm the national character of our society. The international community, the West and the European region are trying to arrogantly prescribe medication to our problem as a solution to their taste.

Such an exercise can be harmful to the indigenous ethnic ailment contracted by our people. Because, whatever the cause may be, we are one people of one country. The world must recognise us as Sri Lankans and not by our ethnicity. That is why we do everything in our power to defend the unity, integrity, sovereignty and the character of our nation.

As Sri Lankans, it is our bounden duty to uphold the foundation and procedures of our democracy to achieve the noble objective of a national character. The Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is eager to place a solution to the crisis in the coming days.

Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. The Head of State cannot be dictated to, as he holds the prerogative to place a solution before all political parties and the people for discussion to arrive at a final solution acceptable to all sections of this multi ethnic society.

We have in the past seen how Heads of this State gave into pressure and further complicated the problem. The IPKF, under the Indo-Lanka Agreement was in its closing stages to eliminate LTTE terrorism, when the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa was pressurized to send the IPKF away.

Who gained from such a move? Was it not the LTTE? Then why help the LTTE again by trying to pressurise the Head of State to do what individual political parties want?

Right or wrong, it is appropriate to recall a saying of late President JR Jayewardene to his cabinet of ministers prior to signing the Indo-Lanka Accord- Jayewardene said," You can have your say, but I will have my way".

Under powers vested in the Executive, Jayewardene made it clear that it was the President who had the power to take the final decision under the constitution being elected by the people to guide and lead the country. A President directly elected by the people cannot cater to the demands of one political party or a segment of the society.

The Tamils have been demanding a just solution to their grievances for decades. They allege that the Indo-Lanka Accord was never implemented to the letter and its' meaning. In that regard, the blame could be put on the architect of that solution and his Government of that time.

The reality before arriving at a just solution to the Tamil problem is to first get the Tamils to unite. As long as they stand divided expressing different opinions to a solution, a resolution to the crisis would stand at a distance.

At present, the people greatly encourage and appreciate the steps taken by the President and the APRC to put forward a solution speedily. All look forward to a solution through peaceful negotiations. The success of that exercise will bring peace and prosperity early to this strife torn nation. It will also stabilise our economy for better lives.

The ethnic problem has been a burden to all for the past three decades. Any solution should safeguard the integrity and sovereignty of this island nation. This nation is too small to be divided for rule. LTTE terrorism has divided the Tamil people today.

Tamils are being held to ransom by this deadly terror group. President Rajapaksa is on record saying that true Tamils do not support or resort to terrorism, which is a fact.

Tamils do know that the LTTE are not their liberators anymore. The plight of the democratic minded Tamils are tragic. They are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. All other communities in this country must rise to the defence of the innocent Tamil population to save them from the clutches of LTTE terrorism.

The Government today is forced to legally engage its troops to save the Tamils and other communities from this deadly terrorists group. Already, thousands of Tamil civilians have been rescued and liberated in the Eastern sector where democracy has been established under the rule of law. Tamils themselves have a responsible role to play.

They must set aside their differences. Some Tamil leaders of the past misled the Tamil youth by promising a dreamland of a separate state for their political gain and popularity. Those leaders, at the back of their minds knew it was only a dream difficult to turn into reality. In the end, many of them were unfortunate victims at the very hands of those youth who turned violent.

After decades of the conflict, we still see the Tamil community stand divided. Tamil political parties are in disarray. If Tamils political parties stand divided and call for different types of solutions, how could one expect to find a just solution? If the Tamil parties continue in this trend of division, the Government at the Centre will find it extremely difficult to satisfy the aspirations of a divided Tamil society.

Any solution to the crisis in this multi-ethnic country should be based on the willingness of the people. Therefore, unity among all Tamil political parties is paramount at this critical juncture to examine and explore possibilities to find a lasting solution to meet their aspirations. Because such a solution should satisfy the future of all people in this country.

Tamils must also realise that Velupillai Prabhakaran cannot survive under any democratic network. Only if Tamils unite to find a just solution acceptable to all people, we could build a strong nation at character among our society to tell the world that, we are all Sri Lankans.

Now coming to the issue of a Southern consensus, the political parties in the South should also play the same role as Tamil parties, by being united at this critical juncture for the sake of the nation. What we witness in the South today is a game to topple the Government to grab power.

Taking advantage of such a conduct, the enemy sprays bullets in the South killing innocent civilians.

The tragedy in this country is also that when a leader emerges from the common society, he is targeted from day one. We have witnessed the brick bats that were hurled at Ranasinghe Premadasa when he assumed the high office of President. Similarly today we see President Mahinda Rajapaksa being targeted by two of his former ministers, as was done to Premadasa by Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake.

The policy of the Opposition should be to put the country before itself. And not to battle President Rajapaksa who was elected to office by the peoples' vote at an election. What we see today is a battle against Rajapaksa and not on issues confronting the nation and the people.

Like many other political leaders of the past and present, Mahinda Rajapaksa too grew up as a child in an environment which politics presented itself to his mind. He saw politics as a subject being discussed and practised at his home by his father, D.A. Rajapaksa, the guiding light to the late SWRD Bandaranaike.

Obviously young Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa had to be intended for politics. We do see the same in Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who grew up in the shadow of his father Esmond Wickremesinghe who associated top politicians of that day in the plush environs of Colombo unlike Rajapaksa who hails from a village in deep South.

Rajapaksa from his childhood upheld that neither race nor ethnicity should be allowed to decide who was human or sub human. It is in that belief President Rajapaksa seeks a solution to the ethnic crisis confronting the nation today.

His journey to the Presidency was similar to that of "From the log cabin to the White House". Targeting him is not going to solve the burning issues of the nation. Opposition political parties should not make individual demands with regard to resolving the ethnic crisis.

Today, terrorism and criminality has embraced our society. Certainly, no leader could eradicate such evil overnight.

Terrorists who have battled for nearly or over three decades cannot be wiped out in a day or two. Also, no country could be transformed into a law governed society within weeks. To achieve all that in a process, opposition political parties must help the Government in office.

The agony and pain emanating from the ugly developments of the ethnic problem is a pain to all, irrespective of race, religion or colour. The time has come for Sri Lanka to soon determine the destiny of her people and the nation. In that exercise, one man like a President cannot execute such a heavy task by himself.

He will need the cooperation of the people and all political parties to be role players in that exercise.

National unity will be a distant dream if political party leaders hold daggers in their hands.

At times of national crises all political party leaders should rally round the people and the nation. That is a compulsion in a democracy if democracy is to survive. Partisan politics will only further heighten tensions.

When we call for Tamil political parties to unite, it is absolutely necessary that all political parties in the South to join hands to help find a lasting solution to this festered ethnic crisis to take this nation forward towards peace and prosperity. It is only then we could be proud of our Southern consensus.