Avoid getting back to 'Square One'

Anyone reading the Parliamentary proceedings of Thursday could not have helped being arrested by the feeling that the country is back to 'Square One' with regard to finding a political solution to our conflict. It was mostly a case of one side contradicting the other and the discussion remaining stalemated on the issue of resolving the conflict for good on mutually-acceptable terms.

Frankly, there is nothing left to split hairs on. The country knows for a fact that the subject has been exhaustively and painstakingly discussed over the decades and that the solution to the problem has virtually been found. What is left to be done is to formalize the solution and to implement it. It is on the question of formalizing this settlement or of making it take shape as a coherent and intelligible set of proposals that the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) would prove useful.

However, the answer to this seeming riddle of our times is already written in the hearts and minds of the people. That is, they want to live in peace and amity with each other on the basis of equality and non-discrimination, as long as violence and bloodshed are not used to press claims and as long as the unitary status of the country is not compromised. A solution within these parameters would have been acceptable to all our communities even 25 years ago, but what prevented the clinching of an agreement was the opportunistic politics resorted to by some quarters and the extremism practiced by the LTTE, coupled with the communalism vociferously preached by some sections in Southern Sri Lanka. The latter factors effectively ensured that the finding of a solution was impeded and rendered long drawn.

But with the elimination of the LTTE, the doors seem to be wide open to a relatively trouble-free clinching of the issue. With the Tiger-inspired bloodshed and violence that sent emotions rising high in all sections of the polity coming to an end, a mood of rationality seems to have settled far and wide. We are seeing this change of tone in Parliament itself. Rather than the rancour and bitterness of the past we find that more of our political parties represented in Parliament are speaking of the need for cooperative and cordial living among communities, although there is yet to be a meeting of minds on the shape and substance of a solution.

Therefore, it is very unlikely that a fair and just solution to the conflict, based on the legitimate needs of our communities, would meet with fierce opposition in any quarter as long as this solution is worked out within the parameters of a unitary and united state. Therefore the national mood could be said to be just right for the parties relevant to the conflict to sit together at the negotiating table and to speak earnestly to each other on a mutually-acceptable solution.

We need to make a concerted attempt to prevent ourselves from getting back to those days of gloom when mutual recriminations and accusations were the order of the day. Rather, the parties to the conflict must seize the moment and talk to each other with an intent to building on the positives that are already there. One such positive is the accelerated development which has been launched in the North-East. The state is in these regions in a big way and the Tamil parties, in particular, would do well to cooperate with the state in bringing concrete benefits to the people of these provinces.

The way to peace is a peaceful disposition. There are really no special techniques for the furtherance of peace. This needs to be realized by all on the conflict resolution front. The TNA and other relevant parties could chose to be destructively critical and stand aloof from the development drive in the North-East and thereby delay the arrival of a solution or cooperate with the state wholeheartedly in its development efforts and help in brining down the barriers between the main parties. When the main parties to the issue give-up bickering and cooperate in achieving some good for the people, they would find that there are little or no differences between them. This is on account of the good will joint efforts generate.

Finally, the consensus has emerged in Parliament that a political solution should be worked out to the conflict. That is, a national consensus on a political solution has emerged. We urge all relevant parties to, therefore, seize the PSC mechanism to forge a settlement. Rather than throw brickbats at the PSC idea, they should look at it positively and exploit its potential in an earnest spirit to deliver a settlement.