Let's say 'no' to war

As we reach a tense moment in the history of the ethnic conflict, it is heartening to see President Kumaratunga setting the correct tone for the forward movement of the peace process by emphatically rejecting war. The right-thinking would readily agree with her that "enough is enough". No more human lives could be sacrificed to the wasting North-East conflict.

Besides the enormous human costs - in the form of the dead, the disabled, the widowed and the orphaned, to mention a few such losses - Sri Lanka has also suffered massive setbacks over the years in economic and material terms. For instance, countries in the Asian region which were considered second to Sri Lanka in terms of human well being and material prosperity, are today well ahead of us in these spheres.

The single, most important contributory factor to Sri Lanka's steady decline in national prestige over the years is the long-running ethnic conflict.

This unresolved problem and the resulting war has drained this country of almost all its resources, including our human capital.

It is likely to be the earnest prayer of all well-meaning Lankans that President Kumaratunga would be blessed with the courage and resourcefulness to forge steadily ahead with the current, historic undertaking of bringing peace to Sri Lanka by political means.

It could be said that the signing of the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure proposal or "Joint Mechanism" is only the first step in this renewed effort by President Kumaratunga to end the ethnic conflict. A long road lies ahead and we believe it is the duty of the citizenry to help the President in this great endeavour of bringing to an end Lanka's searing and prolonged agony.

Sadly, there are sections in this country who do not agree with the State's approach to ending the conflict. They just do not believe that devolved power is one of the most effective answers to problems of this kind. They also do not seem to agree that negotiations and a meeting of minds - approaches preached by every religious leader who has won adherents in this country - are effective ways of resolving our conflict.

We are left to conclude that these dissenting sections back war and military means as paths to ending the conflict. The answer which could be provided these sections takes the form of a graphic retelling of the grim and heart-rending costs of war: numberless youths in their graves, armies of war widows and orphans, the disabled from the war whose lives have been blighted forever and seas of destitute and homeless persons. Is this what these anti-peace elements want?

We could choose to end our problem the way India does with some of its rebellious regions, by devolving extensive power on them, or go the way of the Middle East, for instance, which has been witnessing only war and bloodshed for well over 50 years.

The choice has to be made now and such decisions begin in the minds of women and men. Let's choose love, compassion and cooperation and thereby testify to our higher destiny as humans rather than succumb to our baser drives, such as anger and aggression, and thereby pave the way for our extinction.