Saner counsel has returned

A welcome change is discernible in the United States with regard to its Sri Lanka policy. The United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs and former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake welcomed the initiatives taken by the Government to expedite the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons that were housed in welfare villages.

He said: "The United States welcomes the recent progress by the Government of Sri Lanka to return a majority of these Sri Lankans home and allow increased freedom of movement to those still in camp".

This is a welcome move away from the past practice of passing strictures on Sri Lankan authorities. A report of the United State Senate's Foreign Relations Committee last Monday called for a revision of US strategy with regard to Sri Lanka.

The report titled 'Sri Lanka: Recharging US Strategy after the War' had many home truths which are significant. Even Sri Lankan authorities could gain by a study of the Report. For example, it said, "Real peace will not come overnight to Sri Lanka and cannot be imposed from outside". Sri Lanka could have been spared much anxiety if this was understood by those powers that wanted to use the offices of the United Nations to 'tame' Sri Lanka. This is a sobering thought for all who believe in a quick fix to the national question disregarding the ground realities.

While acknowledging the positive steps taken by the Government to ease the humanitarian crisis in the North, the Report underlines that "the international community can be an active partner in promoting faster resettlement". This is what Sri Lanka has been saying right along.

The Report laments that there has been a strategic drift in the Sri Lanka policy of the United States which underestimated our country's geostrategic importance. "The United States cannot afford to 'lose' Sri Lanka", it said. Neither would Sri Lanka like to 'lose' the United States. The latter is by far Sri Lanka's most important trade partner, accounting for more than one-quarter of the country's total exports, as acknowledged in the Report. Politics and economics are not only inseparably related but the latter is a concentrated form of the former.

The Report calls for a multi-dimensional approach to Sri Lanka that appreciates the new political realities in the country. Sri Lanka could expect better and improved relations with the United States if the recommendations of the Report are accepted. Since it is a bipartisan report it will be most probably accepted.

Sri Lanka too should consider the geo-political realities, especially the emerging trends in world politics and economics in reshaping its policy towards all countries, including the United States. The Rajapaksa administration has so far followed the most independent foreign policy of all post-independence administrations and defended the country's sovereignty at all costs, thus setting an example to other countries and winning acclaim from the majority of nations.

The Report is not without reservations too. This is natural. While Sri Lanka cannot be coerced by being 'tough' with her, replying in kind on Sri Lanka's also would not serve it any better. They have to be addressed not through confrontation but too dialogue and examination.

The candidate in uniform

A poster is adorning the city walls. It shows a candidate contesting the Presidential election. The man in uniform is saluting somebody, perhaps his Commander-in-Chief.

What made him appeal to the voters appearing in uniform? Is it because he would be a nobody in mufti? After all only a select band would wear the uniform. Besides the uniform is a symbol of power that could be used to instil fear among the hoi polloi.

The man had earlier said that he cast aside the uniform to reluctantly take up public service in mufti. Now it is clear the reluctance was only to drop the uniform. That is why he has reverted to it.

Perhaps he would like to don it if he gets the coveted post. Is the poster a sign of things to come or a method of intimidating the voter?