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| Sunday, 27 April 2003 |
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End efforts to dominate by force and intimidation Media release of National Peace Council The National Peace Council views the incidents of violence including abductions and mob attacks by Tamils and Muslims and assassinations of LTTE opponents taking place in the east of the country, and in particular in Muttur, as a matter of grave concern. We condemn these incidents in which the Muslim people have been the main victims and all efforts to dominate by force and intimidation as actions that will not lead the country to peace. Instead they will serve to escalate the ethnic conflict, undermine the confidence of people in the peace process and make a final political solution more difficult to achieve. While we realise that tensions between the communities antedate the clashes taking place at present, the practice of violence is serving to aggravate the problems between them that need to be addressed. The NPC calls on the representatives of the people to engage in sincere dialogue with a view to clarifying their differing expectations and find ways to strengthen the peace-building process. We deplore the political manoeuverings that obstruct efforts to find a consensual solution to the problems among the ethnic and religious communities. The NPC also expresses its concern at the mounting number of politically motivated killings taking place in which the victims are members of Tamil political parties opposed to the LTTE. We condemn such assassinations. No party has the right to unilaterally decide on punishments of adversaries or opponents for what they may have done in the past. Dealing with the past should be through a mutually agreed mechanism that is an outcome of the negotiating process. The NPC urges the government, LTTE and the international facilitators to intervene at the highest levels to put a stop to the destruction taking place at the ground level. While these incidents are localised, the fear and animosity they generate can spread rapidly with the help of vested interests unless appropriately dealt with through conflict resolution practices. Although Muttur was the site of similar Tamil-Muslim clashes several months ago, no remedial measures were taken. There is a need to integrate human rights standards, sincere compliance and an effective mechanism of monitoring and mediating disputes to prevent these clashes from recurring. Media Director |
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