Sure aid to peace

The country rebuilding process and through it, the peace effort, stands to gain from an observation made by LTTE political wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan, that the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS), was not a political agreement but an administrative arrangement aimed at restoring normalcy in the tsunami-hit areas of the North-East.

This statement accords with the view on the P-TOMS put forward by President Kumaratunga herself. Expanding on this point, Thamilselvan went on to say that the P-TOMS was not part of the peace process but an important confidence-building measure.

These clarifications need to be carefully studied by those vociferously agitating against the P-TOMS and by those myopic minds which imagine that dire consequences would befall the country if the P-TOMS or the Tsunami Relief Council proposal is implemented.

Here's an important spokesman for the LTTE disclosing the true nature of the Relief Council. It should be as clear as day that the implementation of the proposal wouldn't have any political implications or pave the way for a separate state in the North-East.

However, what is of even greater significance is Thamilselvan's point that the Relief Council arrangement could lead to a facilitation of the peace process since it has the character of a confidence-building measure between the Government and the LTTE.

This observation could be taken as proof that the LTTE is agreeable to resuming and pressing on with the peace process. In other words, the LTTE is not envisaging a military solution to the conflict nor is it intending to actively pursue the separate state agenda.

Accordingly, the majority of our citizens - who are fair-minded-would warmly welcome these comments by the LTTE political wing leader as indicating a mindset in the LTTE which is conducive to a resumption of the peace effort. In other words, the Relief Council arrangement augurs well for the country and should be pursued.

We are of the opinion that the currently dissenting voices have a destructive intent and should be ignored because it is not on account of a lack of the power of reasoning that they fail to see any merit in the Relief Council proposal.

These detractors are simply all out to wreck any program which has ethnic peace as its aim. Put simply, they desire a dominant role for the majority community in the governance of Sri Lanka. This, of course, is an agenda which is not only diametrically opposed to our dream of a united Sri Lanka which is at peace with itself but a sure recipe for the fragmentation of Sri Lanka on ethnic, religious and linguistic lines. From this situation to a bifurcated Sri Lanka is only a short step.

The time's ripe for all Lankans to make a vital choice. They must side with the State and the forces of peace and national reconciliation, for, any support for the opponents of the peace effort would pave the way for Lanka's break-up.