A Plea for a Fair and Just Political Solution within a United Sri Lanka
The recent developments in the country have pushed me to address the people of this country, Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils. As many people in this country are well aware, that at great risk to my life I have devoted the last years of my life to finding a political solution that will allow our children to live in peace and to prosper. We have lost too many of our leaders, our youths and ordinary people from all communities to a conflict for which we all have to share some blame. If we can achieve peace and a political solution, and even if I may not be able to enjoy that peace, I will nevertheless be grateful that the youth and children of this country will grow up in a different Sri Lanka where the nightmare of terror, violence and war will be behind them and a dawn for a generation of Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils to live together and rebuild our country for the prosperity of all our peoples.
I visited the Eastern Province recently to understand the predicament of the people and I was saddened by the suffering of the people affected by the war over the years. The displaced and our children are living in abject poverty. I saw the work of the government in rehabilitating the affected people, but it will take years before normalcy returns. The people in the East need our support so that they can return to normal life, be able to live without fear and the communities can coexist with harmony. The Eastern Province reflects the richness of our diversity, where the Muslim, Sinhalese and Tamil people are living side by side, but that diversity needs to be nurtured so that they care for each other as brothers and sisters and will not be intimidated or threatened by each other. The people of the East no doubt, need economic reconstruction in their Province. However, they need a political solution that is fair to the Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils, where all people will feel as equals and not feel like a minority or majority in order to be successful in reconstructing the East.
In my many travels as with my recent visit to Europe, I have always expressed my confidence that the people of Sri Lanka can find a political solution within a united Sri Lanka. I have often debated with the Tamils in the Diaspora as I have done within this country, that separatism is unacceptable. I always had confidence that we as Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese can find a solution within a united Sri Lanka. I have discussed this with the clergy of all religions, with leaders of all communities and all the political parties and except a negligible few actors, they have all expressed the confidence of finding a political solution within a united Sri Lanka. I am proud to say that many in the Tamil Diaspora and the Tamil community in Sri Lanka agree with me, and that the only way forward is to find a political solution within a united Sri Lanka. Many in the Tamil community are now ready to say with me that we must mourn, repent and forgive for the violence in the name of Tamils, Sinhalese or Muslims. My heart goes out to the people who have lost so much, but we must go forward.
The LTTE of course continues to feed the Tamil people the poison of ethnic exclusion and separatism. The LTTE tells the Tamil people, that the Sinhalese will not give them anything, neither devolution nor power sharing nor peace. The LTTE today is weak, militarily and politically. What they fear most is their complete political defeat, when they can not feed their political poison to the Tamils in the Diaspora and inside Sri Lanka. No political solution will be acceptable to the LTTE, other than a kingdom for Prabhakaran. However, a political solution acceptable to the Tamil people where they can live with dignity and feel secure and assured of their place as an equal community side by side with the Muslim community and the Sinhalese community, will ensure the political defeat of the LTTE and its bankrupt politics. A fair and just political solution will convince the Tamil people not only in this country but around the world that there is no need for the tyranny and terror of the LTTE.
As everyone knows, I have steadfastly repeated that a political solution to our country can be based on an Indian model. The Indian constitution does not say federal or unitary, but has managed to hold the country together for sixty years, and indeed India is prospering. I have supported the APRC process and I have the highest regard for the work of Prof. Tissa Vitharana who has been attempting to create a consensus that can address the aspirations of all the peoples of Sri Lanka. However, I am seriously concerned about the recent reports in the media that the proposals coming out of APRC could have the “unitary” label. The country needs to be fair by the Tamil and Muslim people, and after all these decades of conflict, deaths, destruction, suffering and debates about constitutionalism, the “unitary” state will not be acceptable to the Tamil and Muslim people.
A political solution at the moment can achieve two things. One, it can be a political defeat for the LTTE. Two, it can give the Tamil people and the Muslim people the confidence of living together with the Sinhalese community and rebuilding our country. A political solution with the “unitary” label, where the State is not willing to recognize the other communities as those with legitimate grounds of power sharing will only strengthen the LTTE’s call for separation and give oxygen to a dying organization. A “unitary” solution will be a political defeat for those such as myself that have been challenging the Tamil community to forget separatism and come into the path of a united Sri Lanka. A “unitary” solution will shatter the confidence of the Tamil people and the sense of fairness they expect from the Sri Lankan State.
Any solution under a “unitary” constitution will be a half-baked one. It will give room for further agitation in the future fuelled by the remnants of the LTTE. The result would be a disruption of the hard earned peace and take the country back to square one, into another cycle of violence. Only a reasonable solution that leads to a contented society consisting of all communities will lead to a sustainable peace.
I may not live to see the day that any political solution is implemented, but I hope the leaders of this country, the leaders of all the political parties understand my humble plea. Give the people of this country, Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils a chance to live in peace within a united Sri Lanka. We need a political solution urgently, but it has to be fair and just. A “unitary” proposal will kill the hopes of those who have placed so much faith in the APRC. A political solution that is just and fair on the other hand will unite all the communities and will bring a new dawn for peace.
V. Anandasangaree
President –TULF.
