A Sri Lanka free of hatreds

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resolve to prevent past enmities from infecting and perverting the minds and hearts of Sri Lankans of the present and of the future, is a pronouncement that is likely to strike a responsive chord in many a local conscience. This is indeed a foremost challenge facing Sri Lanka.

The state has done well to free this country of political terror, but uniting the communities of this country into an indivisible citizenry and marching together into the future from now on as a closely knit collectivity is a mission of a different order which calls for capabilities which are entirely different in nature to military skills.

However, Sri Lanka has not done badly for itself on this score too, although it is only three years since the LTTE was eliminated. For instance, one time LTTE cadres are being steadily rehabilitated and returned to a normal civilian existence under the purview of the government and this is something over which the thoughtful among us could rejoice.

It is important that these one time LTTErs are made to feel at home in this country and this is something the state and the public must assure them of. If these conditions are not met the psychological wounds of the conflict would be slow in healing and the effort to prevent past enmities from being perpetuated into the future would be very badly stymied.

Those sections of the West which are currently daggers drawn with Sri Lanka need to bear these considerations in mind. The fair-minded sections of the world community are firmly of the view that Sri Lanka should in no way be prevented from starting anew and that it should be afforded the opportunity of rejuvenating itself on the basis of its energies and resources, in complete independence, without being harassed over issues that need to be relegated to the dust bin of history. Well, these sections of opinion which are favourably disposed towards this country need to be listened to because an effort to raise divisive issues within Sri Lanka would only prevent her from making that fresh start which she is fully entitled to. Besides other negative consequences, enmities of the past would be kept alive and the people of this country polarized along lines that would make shared living impossible, if divisive questions are constantly harped on.

It is surprising that the lessons of history are being strongly resisted by those quarters which are critical of Sri Lanka because most of them should be no stranger to ethnic strife, having been saddled with problems of the same nature over the years.

However, the reported resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC sessions, if entertained, could achieve just this effect of rekindling past enmities in Sri Lanka. Apparently, the ulterior motive of these anti-Lanka sections is to refuel old animosities within Sri Lanka by raising controversial issues which would help in pitting one community against the other.

The majority of the Tamil community would be quite content to forget about the decades long strife which tore this country apart but it is the aim, apparently, of the enemies of Sri Lanka to reopen healing wounds and to even make them bleed afresh by harping on ‘war crimes’ and connected canards which make our communities view each other with hostility and doubt once again. So, the game plan of the enemies of Sri Lanka is quite evident and Sri Lanka should enlighten the world about it.

Meanwhile, however, we in Sri Lanka need to make a concerted effort to put the nation-building project on track. As we have time and again pointed out, nothing short of a sense of community and unity among Sri Lankans would help in bringing about nation-building. Accordingly, bridge-building among our social groups should proceed apace.

It is this momentous enterprise which would prevent past enmities from being handed over to future generations.