Cooperation among youth vital to strengthen reconciliation - GL

Chaminda Perera

External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peris said there won’t be reconciliation in the country unless there is genuine communication among the younger generation.

He said President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is very keen in promoting reconciliation among youths of different communities invited former Indian President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam for the launch of a programme, which would have a positive impact on reconciliation.

He added youths in both communities are given an opportunity to learn each other’s language to promote reconciliation under this programme.

Speaking at the National Conference on Youth’s role in reconciliation organized by the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for

International Relations and Strategic Studies on Wednesday Prof Peris said, when he was a student at S Thomas, Mount Lavinia and later at the University of Ceylon, nothing was there to divide them as students conversed with each other in English. He was of the view that Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa is the most appropriate person who can speak about the subject of reconciliation as he has spent more time in the Killinochchi district than in the Hambantota district from where he was elected to Parliament. The External Affairs Minister said that Parliamentarian Rajapaska always attends to the needs of the people in the North.

Prof Peiris recollected how parents and children of S Thomas College reached out to each other during the time of 1958 riots. He added that he was 9 years old when the 1958 riots erupted . He said that parents of children at S Thomas reached out each other. “My parents used to invite my Tamil classmates to our home ”, he added. The Minister added that ethnicity had no part to play in the emotion and sentiments at the height of riots. “This is very characteristic feature at the grass roots level of our country, he added.