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Priority Number One

A New Year has dawned. A new Government is in office.

There is another novelty. That is the co-existence of a PA President with a UNF Prime Minister. That means the sharing of Executive and Legislative power by the two principal political formations.

This could be a blessing in disguise. For, it necessitates cooperation between the two sides in the tasks faced by the nation.

The New Year messages by the President and the Prime Minister give cause for optimism. Both have stressed the need for peace and unity.

Ensuring peace is thus priority Number One for the new government and the country. It is imperative that the two belligerent sides, the Government and the LTTE talk with each other to end the war.

The Prime Minister has already said that these talks could begin in March at the earliest. The Government has also begun preliminary preparatory work to start negotiations.

It is glad to observe a professional approach to conflict resolution with the institution of a peace Secretariat under an experienced diplomat. We hope the government will also utilize the services of local expertise on the subject to assist the Secretariat. Over the last seven years there had been a series of local and international symposia, seminars and workshops devoted to the subject of peace making and devolution of power in Sri Lanka.

There is a body of persons who have made valuable contributions to these fora. The assistance of these persons, mostly academics could be sought to strengthen the new initiative.

There should also be a multi-faceted approach to the talks.

The first should be to work out an agreement for a definitive cease-fire. A cease-fire has to be monitored, if it is to succeed. As the war has brought immense hardships,

deprivation and trauma, priority Number One should be to end the war.

Equally urgent is the task of addressing the humanitarian problems caused by the war. In fact, these could be addressed even prior to the onset of negotiations.

Next comes the solution of problems that gave rise to the war. The grievances of the Tamil people have to be resolved so that they could live in friendship and dignity as citizens with equal rights in a united Sri Lanka. The solution to these problems would take time. It is not a rush job.

Hence, it is advisable to reach an agreement on an Interim Administration for the North and the East. This would be less problematic now since the TNA has admitted that the LTTE is the sole spokesman for the Tamil people in the negotiations. The Government will have to seek means of accommodating representatives of all major communities in the region in such an administration.

Even in the case of substantive issues, the Government could start with implementing those reforms on which there is a bipartisan agreement between the PA and the UNP, provided the Tamil representatives agree on them.

What is most important is to build public support for the peace initiative and the solutions proposed. History is full of missed opportunities.

Well-intentioned accords reached at earlier discussions with Tamil representatives were broken not at the Conference venues but in the streets, largely because the public were misguided by certain power hungry groups in the Opposition. Hence, the importance of mobilizing mass support at each turn in the long process of peace making cannot be over-emphasized.

• Editorial of  The Observer - 01.01.2002:Agree to disagree
  

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