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| Thursday, 7 February 2002 |
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by Ranga Kalansooriya
Nobel Peace Prize winner and the key player in the Northern Ireland peace process John Hume said yesterday that Sri Lanka should grab the golden opportunity for peace at a time when there is an enormous sympathy right across the world for the people of Sri Lanka. "I am certain that there is so much of goodwill and support for the peace process in Sri Lanka. Of course there is no doubt that when you have established a lasting peace and stability, it will transform the economy of Sri Lanka and provide a real future for all its people and the friendship of the world will be very clearly expressed in its support of that peace process," Hume, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in Northern Ireland told the Daily News in an interview. Hume, who was awarded the prestigious Gandhi Peace Award 2002 in New Delhi last week, said that there should be a strong will to end a conflict. In any process for a lasting peace, the last word should be with the people, but not with the politicians, he stressed. "The leadership of all sides should be prepared to make first and foremost - the major declaration - saying that violence has no role in finding a solution to the conflict. At the end of the day no organisation can claim to be acting for the human rights of its people if its acts destroy and undermine the fundamentals of human rights of all." Hume, amidst heavy criticism from extremist elements in the early 90's commenced talks with Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams in a bid to reach a common ground to start talks in search of an agreement. The decade long clandestine and open Adams - Hume deliberations ended in signing the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 paving the way for political mechanisms to take over the 30-year armed conflict in Northern Ireland. "When I was heavily criticised, I simply made it clear that if thousands of our soldiers on the streets could not stop the violence, if I could save one human life by talking to someone, it was my duty to do so. Therefore I was not going to listen to the critics. That's what I did and the dialogue kept going and brought violence to an end and was followed by all party talks with the two governments, it reached an agreement which was approved by the people. So, it was very unpopular when I started it, but at the end of the day it was a real success," Hume claimed. Emphasising the need for a declaration by the government and the LTTE denoucing violence, the SDLP leader was of the opinion that each side should recognise the fact that violence had no role to play in the search for a lasting solution. "If the dialogue takes place here between the government and the LTTE, the first thing that they must make clear is that they agree - I think it is a very good step - if they put forward a joint declaration saying that they agree that the violence from either side has no role to play in solving the problem of a divided people. Because the only thing that violence can do is deepening the division of society," said Hume. "In all societies where serious troubles are taking place, the dialogue is the only road to a solution. The first attempt of a dialogue should be to bring the violence to a complete end and then have real dialogue subjective to an agreement which would respect the diversity of the people and would not give victory to any one section to the conflict. Our agreement (the Good Friday Agreement) respects the identities of both sectors of our people," said Hume. The only way in solving problems of divided people is to reach agreement, and the only way to reach agreement is by dialogue, and they are going to commit themselves totally in that process until an agreement is reached. When the agreement is reached the last word will be with the people. The only way to deal with the splinter groups is at the end when the people have spoken. When the enormous public support strengthened the agreement, it would remove any reason for splinter groups, he added. |
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