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| Sunday, 13 October 2002 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 Provocations The response on all sides to the provocative and tragic incidents in the Amparai and Trincomalee districts last week bodes well for peace in our time. The Prime Minister reacted quickly and justly, calling for an impartial inquiry and indicating in no uncertain terms that while justice is done, the authorities and agencies responsible in those situations would be held accountable if there had been any lapses. With the Defence Minister and his officials actively monitoring the situation from Colombo, the Government sent senior officials to both trouble spots within hours, injecting a sense of security and confidence in the public mind that top-level interventions were being made. The whole emphasis has been to bring about law and order, ensure fair play and justice, and to examine and expose any lapses. While local level emotions were heated, the leadership of the LTTE at both the regional as well as national levels also responded quickly. The LTTE's media organs actively projected a posture of a commitment by the guerilla movement to the Ceasefire. A LTTE media communique in the East quoted LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran as issuing instructions that the Ceasefire should be upheld. Even as Eastern civilians vented some anger over the tragedies, the LTTE's eastern military commander personally met the head of the Monitoring Mission and promised him that the LTTE would not allow these incidents to disrupt the peace process. The meeting as well as the publicity given to it by the LTTE indicated the determination of the LTTE not to allow any provocations to undermine the larger process of normalisation that has been set in motion. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has also shown a capacity to respond quickly and correctly, seeking out the right people at the right time to ensure the best possible outcome in a difficult, tense, situation. All this clearly shows that all sides have a determination not be distracted from their chosen path to peace whatever the provocations. The warning of the Tamil United Liberation Front about the danger of certain elements attempting to disrupt the peace process by means of such provocations is noteworthy. There are extremist political factions, small though they may be, whose obsession with fantasies of supremacy and exclusivity prompt anger and frustration and compel them to desperate action. These tendencies must be dealt with firmly but with understanding so that a larger consensus for peace is built up. Ceasefire 2002 is now in its eighth month and, more importantly, has weathered several tragic incidents and difficult situations without falling apart and sending the country back to war. Last week's successive disruptions may have been the worst so far but will certainly not be the last. Only the determined focus on the goal of a negotiated settlement and the prerequisites for it has kept the peace process on track. Given this will to peace, provocation cannot succeed. Palestine's agony Even as the measured responses of leaders in this country bear testimony to the resilience of the current Sri Lankan peace process, the latest killings in Palestine are a tragic testimony to the failure of another peace process that has a far greater bearing on international security and order. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to former United States' President Jimmy Carter brings back memories of the Camp David Peace Accords of 1979 that were the result of painstaking personal mediation by Mr. Carter who was President at the time. Notwithstanding the subsequent failure of that Accord, the former President has untiringly worked for peace and human rights in all parts of the globe, thereby finally earning him this accolade. But Palestine bleeds on, a sadly unfinished, tortured drama of war and suffering. Even if the world's most powerful remain aloof from this agony, perhaps it is time that those who are free of the constraints and compulsions of power contribute once more toward ending this seemingly endless tragedy. |
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