Reconciliation conference:

Platform for broad spectrum of ideas

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

The first National Conference on Reconciliation, held at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies under the theme ‘Reconciliation: The way forward for post-conflict Sri Lanka’ was momentous at a time Sri Lanka is on a path of recovery after the conflict era.

The conference was a platform for a broad spectrum of ideas. Some participants were of the view that attitude changes in the masses could build a bridge between scattered communities while some said without political reconciliation, ground level positive changes will not be effective.

It was a stage that showcased the Government’s and people’s contribution to the effort, combined with personal experiences, comments and criticism.

District Secretary of Jaffna Imelda Sukumar briefed the audience on Government initiatives to bring a better life for the people of the Northern peninsula. Today all DS divisions are operated by civil service officers. Apart from the infrastructure developments taking place in the district, more concern is now placed on issues such as social security, women and childcare, education and health.

“Our project identification strategies start from the grass-roots level and those suggestions and recommendations of the people reach the decision-making level,” Sukumar said. During the era of terrorism spanning over two and a half decades, civil administration was disrupted, administrative documents lost or destroyed, buildings of public and private sector institutes damaged. People were displaced and many migrated.

“The Government mechanism in the district had to use funds allocated for development activities to provide free welfare facilities. Vulnerability and dependency were on the increase,” Sukumar said.

With mega development projects launched, basic infrastructure facilities are improving day by day and as of today the situation is significantly favourable. “In the developing background of the district, the other challenge we face is reconciliation. We thought the best course would be to target grass roots level activities,” she added. Noting how people have understood the situation, she explained, “While we need to provide an opportunity to give an account of suffering, we need to promote the provision of legal aid services to the poor and the vulnerable groups to access justice,” she said. Gender disparities need to be curtailed while avoiding tension and conflict in their daily lives, she explained.

According to Sukumar, today in the Jaffna district there are 206,250 children, of which 494 are disabled and 166 need medical support. The number of conflict affected widows is 2,461 and the total number of widows is 29,447. According to the GA’s reports, 221 cases of violence against women have been reported.

“The other problem we have identified is the lack of willingness from the community to accept the socially re-integrated ex-LTTE cadre. I have heard that even certain Grama Niladharis have rejected such people as they were former LTTE cadre. We have to work on educating people and especially grass roots level Government servants on the danger they are creating. For these young rehabilitated people, acceptance from society is very important,” she explained.

Working together

“Government organisations need to work together to address this problem. We need the support of NGOs and the media as well in this endeavour,” she said.

During the inauguration session, Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, Member of Parliament, said that Caritas (charity) requires sympathy as well as understanding and believed that much can be seen in action. “Unfortunately, the theoreticians about reconciliation who seem to dominate the discourse about Sri Lanka seem often bereft of these feelings. On the contrary, we see an excess of self-righteousness which takes little account of the actual suffering that must be assuaged,” he said.

Prof. Wijesinha emphasised that reconciliation does require healing, but the wounds that must be healed are those of deprivation rather than resentment. “It is in that context that we must understand the distinction we have heard between restorative justice and retributive justice. Those who declare themselves proponents of the latter claim that punishment is required for those who did wrong, but they forget that, on the one hand, many of those guilty of the worst excesses are beyond punishment, and on the other that many of those responsible for manifold deaths were forced into actions for which they cannot be held wholly responsible,” he added.

“….............. our stress should be on ensuring that all those who lost loved ones come to terms with their bereavement. This is difficult, and we see from much of the testimony before the LLRC that what concerns people is finding out what happened to their loved ones, not clarifying responsibility for any deaths,” said Prof. Wijesinha, adding that this does not mean that prima facie cases of abuse should not be investigated. “And the fact that that search extends back into the last century, the need for clarification that was not satisfied during so many years of terrorism, make it clear what our priorities should be with regard to the past – not punishment, but understanding and sympathy,” he emphasised.

“But we should use the investigative resources we have, not in pursuing cases based on manipulated evidence, but rather on finding out what we can do about the missing. This, I believe, we should have done more thoroughly from the moment resettlement began, and I think the longer we delay, the longer we will have to wait for reconciliation,” he said.

Secretary General Sarvodaya Movement Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne said that this is a historic opportunity for Sri Lankans to bring everlasting peace.

Responsibility of society

“Each and every one in society has a responsibility to bring about reconciliation so we don’t pass on this conflict to the next generation,” Dr. Ariyaratne said. To the ordinary man reconciliation is all about human relationships. “Normally we start analysing relationships between people. But I would like to start reconciliation for this country within ourselves,” he said.

He explained that the scattered relationships of the people of this country due to the era of terrorism matter at inter-personal level as well as in the inter-community level. “Political solutions are coming at a different level, but these changes in society can bring in an effect on to these top level solutions. So, re-establishing these positive constructive relationships in society is essential,” he added.

“The main concern is not a questioning how many died and discussing and arguing about the numbers. We need to get on to a more pragmatic people driven process drawn on our own cultural and religious heritage and the element of justice,” Dr. Ariyaratne added. He brought to the notice of the audience that during the reconciliation process, especially individuals and families have to deal with certain incidents that they have faced. “We have to deal with the displaced people, the dead and the missing numbers, women and children, victims of terrorist attacks and many different issues we can identify.

“At present some of these issues have been effectively addressed. I think the credit should go to the Government. Yet, there are many unaddressed issues at the ground level” he explained, citing the provision of housing as an example.

“In the resettlement process, more than 100,000 houses need to be put up and repaired. These will take a long time. For example, after the tsunami, more than 80,000 houses had to be put up. It took a long time, yet people from the South extended their support to the maximum possible level – they were willing to give whatever little help they could offer. Why can’t we have this spirit in this rebuilding process? We need to bring in village-to-village link-up programs. This will also effectively build bridges between broken communities,” he suggested.

Pointing at another serious issue, he said there should be a serious societal dialogue on reconciliation if we are to seriously start people-based reconciliation. “We need to reflect on what is happening rather than criticising anyone – the Government or any other stakeholder,” he added.

Further, in bringing about society-based reconciliation, the media has to play a greater role and to have an effective approach, there should be a favourable environment created by the hierarchy of the Government for the media to act, he said.

World situation

Comparing the world situation with in situ conditions, Dr. Ariyaratne also added that we are in a favourable position as there is no serious animosity among the Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or other ethnic groups in the country. “Just having nice contacts in society will not help bring peace to the country. We need to fulfil the basic needs of the people. So, if we are to address this situation in a holistic approach, we need to look at many dimensions,” he said. The reconciliation process should make people conscious about their responsibilities to live in harmony and respect each other. “And then, we need to address their economic needs through supporting livelihood activities and then educate the people to take the correct decision when it comes to issues that govern their problems. Those resettling need to feel empowered. Giving things to these people alone will not bring peace”.

Commenting on political reconciliation, Dr. Ariyaratne suggested that it is time to get a third dimension in to the governing body of the country at grass roots level to maximise people’s participation.

“Today there is an opportunity for us to find a solution together. Finding solutions as Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims will be divisive and would not solve the national issue,” he said.

The comments from the audience were vibrant – both agreeing and disagreeing. Some argued that what is really necessary is political reconciliation.

It was a question as to how practical it would be to change the thinking pattern of average villagers, without changing the attitudes of the Tamil and Sinhala extremists in the political arena.

Another participant argued that when the attitude of the masses are fine-tuned, politicians would have no alternative than to play accordingly. The speed and efficiency of the reconciled nation would solely depend on the reaction of the people.

With this solid footing created at the first National Conference on Reconciliation let us hope that there will be a productive dialogue with constructive criticism within the community rather than a tug-of-war.