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| Sunday, 3 October 2004 |
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Editorial |  |
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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 11 2429239 / 2331181 Fax : 94 11 2429230 An enlightened move The inaugural meeting of the National Advisory Council on Peace (NACP) will take place in Colombo tomorrow. It is meeting at a propitious moment when concerted efforts are made by the facilitators and the parties to the conflict to revive the stalled negotiations between the Government and the LTTE. The NACP has been a long promised body. Its objectives were long spelt out. The idea, when first mooted by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga won wide acclaim across the political and ethnic divides. We commend the President's action. It is an enlightened move. It gives an opportunity to forge a national consensus. If not for the unfortunate decision of the UNF to boycott the Sessions, it would have provided an ideal forum to work out a bipartisan and a multi-partisan approach to the National Question. We call upon the UNF to re-think and revise its stand in deference to the wishes of the vast majority of the people who voted for the two principal Southern parties. The main argument put forward by the UNF is that the starting of direct negotiations between the Government and the LTTE should take priority and precede the NACP. In its opinion the NACP will be a fruitless exercise in the absence of negotiations between the two belligerent parties. This argument is not tenable. The functioning of the NACP is no bar to start negotiations between the Government. On the other hand, the NACP could facilitate the beginning of negotiations by preparing the groundwork or by removing the stumbling blocks through intermediaries. The refusal of the TNA to attend is also unfortunate. Being privy to the Tiger mind, it could have helped to bridge the gap between the two sides. Actually, the TNA has gone further than non-cooperation. It has taken a confrontational approach. At best, it calls the move an act to delay the re-starting of negotiations. At worst, it calls it an act of sabotage. The NACP is nothing original or sinister that cropped up in the fertile brain of the President. It is part of the international experience in resolving protracted intractable conflicts like ours. South Africa is a case in point. Track One Negotiations, of necessity have to be between the two belligerent parties. To be successful some confidentiality too has to be maintained at the talks. Yet negotiations should not be elitist, as it seemed to be under the UNF. The NACP provides an ideal instrument to draw in all stakeholders to the peace process -the people, civil society, the political parties and religious groups etc. It is also a mechanism to make the peace process more representative. Whatever decisions arrived at the negotiating table have to be placed before the people for their approval. Hence the NACP could become a bridge between the negotiators and the people, thus facilitating an eventual approval of a final or interim decision by the people at a referendum. The NACP could also provide the necessary transparency to the negotiations once they begin. It could even assist in the resolution of deadlocks and stumbling blocks that may be encountered in the deliberations of the negotiating parties. Needed a holistic approach The rural areas have become the focal point of attraction once again. Politicians and policy makers are talking more and more about rural empowerment and rural development. This is nothing new. What is new, however, is that both politicians and policy makers have been awoken from their slumber by the stunning defeat of city-centred development at elections in India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. It is necessary to have a critical review of past policies and practices that centred more on urban development. What is required is a new approach, a holistic one where the rural areas are not considered in isolation. In this respect the theme of the World Habitat Day that falls on October 4 is an eye-opener. It is "Cities -engines of rural development". It reminds us not to think of cities and rural areas as two separate entities. They exist together, one feeding the other. It is the rural areas that supply food to the cities. On the other hand rural population migrates to the cities in search of employment. Those who are employed in the cities send money to the village. Besides most services like hospitals are also located in the cities. It is in the cities that markets are available for rural produce. During the next 25 years the bulk of the population growth in the developing world will be concentrated in cities and townships. This development will be lopsided unless it is planned and well managed. An important precondition for such development is to channel significant investments into infrastructure development, especially in rural areas. The development of communication facilities is of prime importance in this regard. Let us hope the policy makers will realize the need for an integrated and holistic approach to both urban and rural development so that their plans will not end again as daydreams. |
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