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Negotiating Peace in Sri Lanka-Efforts
– failures and lessons.
By Latheef Farook April 29, 2006
Negotiations have been underway for about twenty years to find a solution to Sri Lanka 's destructive ethnic problem. But the two sides – the government and the Tamil Tigers – remain where they started, with no change in their mindsets and with ever deepening mutual suspicions and prejudices.
Yet, as the two sides learnt, much to their expense, there is no alternative to a negotiated settlement; and thus the need to talk. The question is how long and whether the two sides will ever be able to reach an agreement? Even if they did so, one thing is certain: Sri Lanka will never be the same paradise island that it was.
During the beginning of independence in 1948, Sri Lanka was the envy of Commonwealth of Nations and the emerging new nations in Asia , Africa and other regions. So much so, that in the mid-1950s the then Singapore prime minister vowed to make his city state a Sri Lanka .
Unlike many other countries which won freedom from their colonial masters after long spell of agitations, sacrifice and destruction, here, in Sri Lanka , it was relatively peaceful transformation. As a result there was political and social stability, economic prosperity, communal harmony and a peaceful population with a high literacy rate – the basic ingredient essential in taking the country ahead.
Before leaving the island, the British colonial rulers made sure that they handed over power to the aristocracy, described as Brown Sahibs, which helped them rule the island for more than a century and half. But, unfortunately for the country, instead of guiding the nation towards further progress with far sight, the ruling elite began indulging in communal politics.
The two major parties – the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party - dominated local politics since independence and were controlled by few families who ran the two parties as if they were their family-owned businesses. They were loyal Christians during the British rule before embracing Buddhists, for political or other reasons, after the independence. This initially included Senanayakes followed by Jayawardene and his relatives such as Ranil Wickremasinghe in the UNP and the Banadaranikes who kept the leadership of the SLFP within the family for half a century.
They competed with each other in their drive to woo the majority community only to grab power, not realising the deadly seeds of hatred they were sowing between the communities and its devastating impact on the island's destiny.
Their only targets were the next elections and not the next generations or the overall welfare of the country.
Inevitably, communalism of the majority gave birth to the communalism of the minority and the politicians of both sides exploited the situation for their own political gains.
The failure to address the grievances of the minorities, periodic communal violence and continuous discrimination further divided the communities. Even efforts such as the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Pact, the Dudley-Chelvanayagam Pact and a district council proposal to deal with the minority issues collapsed as politicians, playing the Sinhala-Buddhist card, gave in to pressure from chauvinists and extremists.
On the other hand, when one party tried to deal with these issues the other instigated the majority community, only for their political benefit, and thus prevented a solution.
S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike's Sinhala-only policy led to violence and bloodshed and divided the communities, his wife, Mrs. Srimavo Bandaranaike's republican constitution of 1972, which deprived minorities of the safeguards provided in the Soulbury Constitution, united the Tamils and Jayewardene's presidential constitution drove frustrated Tamil youths to take to arms while the ‘83 anti-Tamil riot gave the Tamils the opportunity to migrate all over the world as refugees.
The ‘83 riots provided them the excellent platform to win international sympathy and the Tamil diaspora emerged as a force to reckon with changing the entire perspective of the problem. Unfortunately what was a local issue which could have been solved in Colombo has become an international issue involving many countries and forces with their own sinister and secret agendas not to the benefit of Sri Lanka .
Short-sighted policies of politicians has turned Sri Lankan society today into a fundamentally divided nation; one on religious, linguistic and racial lines and the younger generation, moulded in an education system which deprived any contacts whatsoever with members of different communities, remain poles apart. More than 60,000 people were killed, the economy is in shambles with the country getting deeper and deeper into debt, around Rs 100 billion of the nations wealth which otherwise could be used to develop the infrastructure, health, education and the like, is wasted on fighting this war. The political situation remains chaotic and corruption flourishes at all levels under the open economy which brought in multi-nationals, always hell bent on making quick money.
As a result, while all other countries in the region, including war-battered Vietnam and Cambodia , march towards economic prosperity under the globalised open economy, Sri Lanka is lagging far behind despite its vast potentials – human and others wise.
The need of the hour is a solution to the bloody ethnic issue which virtually turned the country into Asia 's killing field.
In fact, efforts at peace were made since 8 July 1985, when the two parties met in Thimbu, the capital of Bhutan, in their first ever meeting arranged by late President J. R. Jayawardene and slained Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi.
Since then, the road towards peace has been a very long, arduous, complicated and painstaking one with both sides hardening their mindset, with their century-old prejudices and suspicions; remain the same or even worse today.
The Indian involvement resulted in the-Indo Lanka Accord of 1987, followed two years later by the 1989/90 secret discussions between President R. Premadasa and the LTTE. These talks, still shrouded in mystery, ended up abruptly with the LTTE resuming armed struggle. Talks resumed after President Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance was voted to power in 1994, but this too ended up as yet another missed opportunity, with the LTTE commencing its fierce war a year later. The country was plunged into devastating war until the Norwegian initiative, which produced the controversial February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. Ending the bombing and killings, this agreement brought a ray of hope to the war-ravaged nation.
Though the Ceasefire Agreement was expected to pave the way for confidence- building measures, the threat of war continues to loom large four years later today.
Many would like to know the historical background and details of these talks which were recorded in scattered documents here and there. This long felt need was fulfilled by the first two volumes of the book “Negotiating Peace in Sri Lanka - efforts, failures and lessons” by Dr. Kumar Rupasinghe of Foundation for Co-existence.
The book, comprising of contributions by participants of these talks, not only provides the historic background but also insight into developments at each stage from various aspects. They tell us what happened at different stages, how it failed and where we stand today. Thus, it is a reference book on the complicated negotiations for all, including researchers, journalists and others involved.
Amongst those who contributed were active players such as Prof G. L. Pieris, Bradman Weerakoon, Austin Fernando, Thomas Abraham, J. N. Dixit, Bernard Tilakaratna, M. K. Narayanan, M. I. M. Mohideen, Erik Solheim and Hagrup Haukland.
- Ends
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