Home grown solution in the truest sense

While rejecting allegations in sections of the West of human rights violations by the country's security forces during the humanitarian operation of 2009, the government has gone on record that it is following its own processes for the resolution of issues which arose from the conflict in the country. That is, Sri Lanka would not be flinching from exercising its sovereign right of finding a solution to an internal problem entirely by itself.

The issues that have arisen could be described as an acid test of the reasoning powers of the finest minds. It is a veritable article of faith of the international community that the sovereignty of the states of the world should be scrupulously respected and upheld. An inevitable inference from this premise is that no outside power, state or organization could tamper with the internal affairs of a country. Further more, all states enjoy sovereign equality and need to relate to each other on the basis of this principle. These and many more rules of international conduct are today an integral part of International Law.

It follows, therefore, that those sections of the international community which are clamouring for Sri Lanka's blood on the basis of the so-called accountability issue and related questions, are on the wrong side of International Law. Moreover, they would need to ensure that they are not exercising double standards in doing so, because the question would arise as to how scrupulously the rules of international conduct are being adhered to by some states today. It should not be perceived that in the comity of nations where all states are equal, some states are 'more equal than others'. Such gross irregularities of conduct could be the trigger to international anarchy.

Moreover, the world is obliged to acknowledge the efforts Sri Lanka is making towards finding a permanent solution to the conflict by itself. That is, Sri Lanka's endeavours in finding a solution to the conflict on the basis of local thinking in all its diversity need to be appreciated. It is from this point of view that the current Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) should be viewed and assessed. It is an answer to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's declared aim of finding a home grown solution to our problem.

Currently, the LLRC is proving a forum for the airing of the views of those who were affected by the conflict over the years. The Commission has thus far, addressed issues such as those relating to the well being of the displaced in the conflict and has taken up the problem of bringing justice to those who have been detained without trial. The relatives of those who have disappeared without a trace have also aired their problems to the LLRC. Many more questions arising from the conflict have been taken up before the LLRC and it is plain to see that it is proving a useful mechanism in working out a solution to the problems arising from North-East separatism.

Some steady work has been performed by the inter-ministerial committee headed by the Attorney General which has been tasked with acting on the recommendations of the LLRC. In view of the tangled nature of some of the issues in the conflict, it is only to be expected that remedial measures would emerge gradually.

Sri Lanka therefore could not be accused of dragging its feet. It is doing what the people of this country expect of it in terms of finding a lasting solution to the conflict and is doing so on the basis of its own efforts. Those sections of the world community which are picking Sri Lanka out for stinging criticism on alleged human rights violation and other grounds are doing so in a destructive spirit and with an overbearing mentality suggestive of that of the colonizer of old.

What these critical sections could do is to see for themselves, at first hand, the work of the LLRC and even make their submissions to it, rather than choose to pick holes in its operations from afar. Besides, the prime responsibility of the Lankan state to protect its citizens from destructively-bent embodiments of terror, such as the LTTE, needs to be recognized. What applies to a state in the West applies to Sri Lanka as well; what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. That said, the onus is on the Lankan state to forge steadily ahead in the task of bringing reconciliation to the country. There should not be grounds for belief in any quarter that the state is lagging in this regard. It is President Rajapaksa's aim to make Sri Lanka one home for the totality of its sons and daughters. The state, through positive endeavours in the direction of reconciliation and unity, is duty-bound to make this laudable aim a reality.