A commendable move

The Government in its drive to recruit 4,000 persons to man police stations in the liberated East has made a very pertinent observation.

According to Minister Keheliya Rambukwella there will be no discrimination on racial lines in the recruitment exercise and doors will be open even for members of the Karuna faction to join the force providing they submit themselves as normal citizens and fulfil other criteria.

Critics may look at the project on the basis of the inherent danger of the LTTE infiltrating the Police service. There is indeed the danger of LTTE sending decoys as police recruits.

The Government will have to consider this aspect and devise a foolproof screening system that would circumvent this danger.

However what stands out in the Minister's comments on the issue is that suspicion would not figure in the criteria for recruitment. Whether this was a calculated remark or otherwise, the Minister has out his finger on the crux of the problem that has underlined relations between the Sinhalese and Tamils in this country since independence.

It is this suspicion on both sides that had grown in proportion over the years to the ultimate bloodshed we are witnessing today. Political leaders of all hues seized on this suspicion to sow the seeds of discord that has snowballed into the present sorry impasse.

While Sinhala politicians championed Sinhala Only policies, Tamil politicians spread the notion that Tamils would have no place under a Government dominated by the majority community.

Still, there was no open hostility between the people and we hark to the times when Sinhalese and Tamils shared the same desk in the same classroom. Later, the establishment of schools along ethnic lines gave a rise to younger generation that did not know each others' languages. The notion of ethnicity was firmly planted in young minds, as opposed to calling themselves Sri Lankan.

The fissures between the communities later became apparent which gave expression in the form of three communal riots that drove the communities further apart. It is in this context that the Minister's remark assumes great significance.

True, it will be a Herculean task to banish this suspicion in the short term given the deep roots it had already taken. However, even the fact that it is been appreciated and acknowledged as the dominant feature in the ethnic conflict in the highest echelons is a matter for satisfaction.

This could well be first step in reinforcing the hearts and minds operation that is being carried out in the East in all earnest by the Government.

It may also help herald the breaking of the barriers that has hitherto led to the fractious relationship between the two communities and most importantly the weaning away of Tamils from the LTTE. In this exercise, it is vital that members of the Armed Forces and the Police serving in the North-East must learn Tamil to communicate effectively with the local populace.

One would only hope that this gesture on the part of the Government of reaching out to the Tamils to get them involved in the national development effort would percolate and strike the right chord with the minorities.