Keeping the peace and tasks ahead

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

Within a short period of one and half years, Sri Lanka, which was confronted with the world's ruthless terrorists for over 30-years and being one of the 'most dangerous' places in the world, has turned to be one of the safest nations in the South Asian region, the prominent lawyer Gomin Dayasiri said.

Rt Rev Duleep de Chickera	Gomin Dayasiri

He said even after annihilation of the LTTE, still some Western influenced segments shed crocodile tears for the LTTE, to destabilize the peace and the progress made within a short period of time after ending the deadly war.

Commenting on the humanitarian approach taken by the government in fighting a battle with a terrorist outfit he said the Government first declared war with the LTTE to solve a humanitarian need - open the water gates blocked by the LTTE by closing the Mavil Aru sluice gates.

"We started our humanitarian operation to gain access to water for agricultural purposes. This was a deprivation of a basic humanitarian need of the people," he said.

Testifying before the eight-member Commission appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to look into the failure of the Norwegian-brokered Ceasefire Agreement, the root causes of the conflict and measures to prevent future conflicts, they said the Government ordered the military to maintain a zero casualty policy and took measures to provide humanitarian assistance for the Northern civilians kept hostage by the LTTE.

The Commission headed by C.R. de Silva comprises C. Chanmugam, Manohari Ramanathan, H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, Rohan Perera, Karu Hangawatte, M.T.M. Jiffry and M.P.P. Paranagama.

Testifying before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission sittings held in Colombo, Dayasiri said Sri Lanka was the only country which supplied free food, medicine and other basic essentials to terrorists even during the height of the war.

"Nobody could expect zero casualties at an intense warfare. The LTTE used a human shield to defend them. People desired to crossover from the side of the LTTE, and there were no war prisoners held by the Government. Most of the alleged civilian casualties were reported in the No Fire Zone," he said.

In his lengthy presentation, where he stressed the need of an independent judiciary, good governance, solving the language issue, and revamping the public service, he also attacks Norway for their failed involvement in peace negotiations.

Dayasiri said that the Sri Lankan Government resorted to military action after failing all attempts for peace negotiations.

" The LTTE had violated the peace agreement at numerous times", he said.

The experienced lawyer said Sri Lankan Air Force used unmanned aerial vehicles to obtain the ground realities to get the accurate targets.

Dayasiri said with the conclusion of the war, the Government should take effective steps to promote good governance without a delay.

He said this could be achieved through winning the hearts and minds of people who were affected by the decade's long war.

Dayasiri said that language issue would be the most important tool to tackle most of the issues in the post conflict period.

" It is time to have trilingual society and this will help solve many of the problems in the country", he said.

He proposed to achieve ethnic harmony through a trilingual society.

"Trilingual education should be given from a younger age. For that it should be made compulsory from grade one. Trilingual program initiated by the President is commendable in this effort. For national harmony the language program should be carried forward in an accelerated manner. Both Sinhala and Tamil should be given prominent places rather than giving prime place for English," he said.

He also said that the TNA, which called themselves as the sole representatives of the Tamils should make an open apology on behalf of the LTTE for the past mistakes.

Blaming the former 'peace actors' for selecting the Norway to facilitate the peace talks Dayasiri, who was in the peace negotiation team in 2006, said they should never allow to handle the peace process and allow the LTTE to exploit the CFA for the benefit of the terrorists.

"They should not allow Norway's Chief negotiator Erik Solheim to run the peace process according to his desires", he said.

Dayasiri said though Norway's peace negotiations proved their failure to be peace brokers the world around, especially in the Middle East, but still some including the Opposition, still believe in Solheim.

He appreciated the on-going rehabilitation, reconstruction and development processes but stressed the need of maintaining high security zones for some time to ensure security.

Colombo Bishop Rt Rev Duleep de Chickera yesterday commended the role played by military personnel in the North and East, especially during the post-war construction period.

Sounding the same opinion of Dayasiri, who stressed the need of a trilingual society in the post conflict era, the Colombo Bishop also stressed the importance of introducing cross cultural education which would bring students of different ethnic communities together in areas where there were cosmopolitan communities.

"The cross cultural education in areas where cosmopolitan communities live and integrated teaching of history will help dispel mistrust among the communities and will lay the foundation for reconciliation.

It should be a mechanism for the healing of memories and for building of trust within and amongst all communities and cross cultural education which will bring the children of different ethnic communities together in regions where there are cosmopolitan communities. An integrated teaching of history will enhance this process and lay the foundation for trust and confidence," he said.

"In Ireland this system has been successful and they formed one school at the beginning but now there are over 200 such schools", Rt.Rev. Chickera said.

He said another commission should be appointed to investigate the killings and abductions took place during the conflict.

" This commission should have the mandate to trace and publish the list of people disappeared during the conflict as their family members have a right to know whether they were killed or not.

There can be no deterrent to a resurgence of grievance and terrorism than the restoration of the democratic rights of the people, law and order and good governance," he said.

"There is a certain degree of skepticism and cynicism prevails among the masses on the prevailing political culture of the country and there has to be a proper mechanism of devolution. It is the responsibility of the political leadership of the country to see that it is implemented", he said.

The Bishop said many groups had been excluded or marginalized in the participation of the political process.

Stressing the need of reducing the number of military personnel in the Northern region, he said it should be reduced gradually and the police should be given the authority to maintain law and order in the region.

"There must be an adequate number of Tamil speaking personnel in the Police Force in the North and East. They should be given the chance to transact with government officials including police personnel in their own language", he said.

He also highlighted the importance of having a system to trace lost documents such as birth certificates, educational certificates or land deeds and also issuing new documents for those who lost the originals. Commending the LLRC for having its sittings in the North and East to get the views of the people who had been directly affected by the conflict, the Colombo Bishop requested the LLRC to have an independent view on the actual situation in the North and the East through the civilians and organizations free from political affiliations.