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| Sunday, 7 April 2002 |
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A marathon effort by FACTOTUM A peace marathon runner set off from the precincts of the Sports Ministry in the Capital amidst much fanfare and good wishes to reach distant Jaffna symbolising the aspirations of all those who wish to turn their backs on events that led to a division that brought to a halt, road and rail transport to the North which was tantamount to a division of the country. If mines were laid and barricades set up to abort all attempts on both sides to move freely military personnel and equipment it was the civilian population that got caught up in the exercise. Service personnel and hardware found their way nevertheless to strategic positions and the realisation that it is the civilian population that was most affected and that the community at large was all for the amelioration of the harsh conditions imposed on the suffering people has emboldened civil society to take up their cause under conditions that favour a staggered withdrawal of confrontations creating a climate for discussions that would lead to a negotiated settlement of the conflict. The endurance of the marathon runner is symbolic of the endurance of all concerned in the renewed peace effort. After all, we have tread this arduous track before and got properly salted in the process. In retrospect, those efforts appear to have been feeble, ill conceived and ill timed with the international community looking askance at a squabble in India's backyard. But the situation changed into a major issue with international ramifications. And a nation in peril is tapping resources from outside and the goodwill of friendly nations to facilitate a professional approach in bringing about peace. Ample space is being availed of by the one time insurgent group to enter into peace time politics. branch offices have been set up and campaigners have been let loose to carry the message that the rebels are gearing up to display their prowess at playing the game according to the rules of democracy and parliamentary politics. The orientation, to the new scenario will necessarily be a learning process but honouring the pledge to bid farewell to arms is worth the effort after all. It is a welcome metamorphosis. The southern insurgents who took to arms in the decades of the 1970s and '80s are now well ensconced in the seats of Parliament belying the fears of the sceptics. A show of better understanding of the changes that are taking place in the North by them will be a more mature approach than a mere adversarial stance that they seem to be adopting now. For they have tread the path to democracy and have reaped the benefit of campaigning for the ballot displacing veterans in the field. While troops and LTTE cadres are engaged in a marathon effort to demine the road to Jaffna and its environs and other marathon peace efforts get under way, the view that war is lunacy is upheld. |
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