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| Sunday, 10 February 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Guns boom for peace by FACTOTUM The gun salute commemorated not only Independence but acknowledged the people's mandate that enthroned the major political configurations that are normally at each other's throats but are now working towards a tangible peace. The conviviality displayed by the big players as the troops marched by and the national flag was unfurled at Torrington Square the other day is a welcome augury. The announcement of local hustings may ruffle the feathers somewhat but the priority is for the preparations for the confab that would set the stage for the down play of the hot war and the opening up of all those roads and avenues that would strengthen the people to rise up against belligerence and provocative acts that would mar the hopes and aspirations of all those who opt for peace. As teething problems are overcome the economy is bound to take off under the new management and in a favourable climate - the call for a change must be heeded. The impasse we are in has reached such depths that foreign intervention (how ironic) has been found necessary and has been sought to pull us out of the morass. All indications are that both sides are alive to the need to respond to the pressure that is being exerted by donor countries and would-be investors to work out arrangements to accommodate each other in terms of the overwhelming mandate that has repeatedly favoured the saner and sober path of talks than the stupendously costly efforts of asserting one's will through the clash of arms that has brought about untold misery to hundreds of thousands of lives directly and the whole deviously to the stark realisation and extent that economic growth has sunk to below zero! It has been argued that in the past the accent has been on the substance and not on the process of resolution of the conflict. Today the process of bringing together the warring factions has been given due priority in order to ensure that a wider consensus is reached before the protagonists get down to brass tacks. The setting up of the apparatus to eventually hammer out a workable and acceptable framework within which the deal is struck is in itself a slow and long drawn out task. The experience of the past has been that the two major political configurations in the South have been eager to torpedo the efforts of each other depending on which side of the divide they are in, leaving it to the governing group to solely handle the explosive situation while the other has only stood by and egged on those on the fringes who were in no mood to accommodate the positions of one another to scuttle the process. This bitter experience has led to the current scenario. The populace has in a mast stroke (almost in exasperation) pushed the Southern bigwigs to take up a stand that would not leave room for one to scuttle the efforts of the other. So, as the guns boom for peace and foreign intervention intensifies the local call provide the opportunity for the politicos to campaign for a national policy to clear up the bloody mess the country is in. The institutional structures that are being set up will surely and sorely be tested in this new scenario. |
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