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. |