Sri Lanka has seen the end of its three decades full of a brutal civil war. But what of the future?
It is time to rebuild the island of 20 million people more particularly the war ravaged northern and eastern regions. Among the foremost needs are to improve living conditions in the Tamil regions and bring separatists and Tamil minority nationalists into the political process.
President Mahinda Rajapakse minced no words when he said "the responsibility that we accept after freeing the Tamil people from the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eealm) is a responsibility that no government in the history of Sri Lanka has accepted."
The country has been bitterly polarized along ethnic lines. The war victory would only become meaningful if ethnic harmony in a democratic environment were created. The challenge therefore is to eliminate the root causes, which contributed to a debilitating war.
"This country is too small to be divided along ethnic lines but certainly large enough for all communities to live in together as one," the newspaper The Island noted.
The Tamil nationalists wouldn't buy the argument – they could hardly trust the Sinhala majority led governments to confer any kind of recognition on the Tamil community as was demonstrated throughout since winning independence from Britain in 1948.
Suren Surendiram from a Tamil nationalist group said, "We are ever determined and resilient to continue our struggle for political freedom."
Tudor Weerasinghe, a Sinhalese academic noted, "Addressing the root cause of the problem would be as formidable as militarily defeating terrorism. We need to examine at very close range the root causes for Tamil terrorism."
Dhamma Dissanayake, another academic opined "the absence of a democratic vehicle to resolve the ethnic conflict was the reason for its transformation into a violent form. This is a multi-ethnic country. A political process to safeguard the different political and cultural identities is a must."
Professor Tennyson Perera said, "we must strive to build a Sri Lankan nation by fostering cordiality between all races and communities. In a common identity there will no longer be reasons for an ethnic strife."
The ultra-nationalist JHU or the Heritage Party is one of Rajapakse's government allies. They are not exactly in tune with plans to offer political autonomy to Tamil regions. They would rather offer benefits to regions under a central rule.
"The so called Tamil intelligentsia are crying for a political solution to the ethnic problem. But it will not be at the dictates of western powers," Champika Ranawaka of JHU who is a government minister said.
Rajapakse's success in his military campaign has been largely attributed to his policy of paying no heed to western dictates. Norway, the facilitator in the failed 2002 accord with the Tiger rebels backed a federal solution to the conflict. Rajapakse's election as the island's president in 2005 was on a platform, which was anti-federal and rabidly anti-devolution.
Rajapakse commenting on the job in hand said, "It cannot be an imported solution. We do not have the time to be experimenting with the solutions suggested by other countries. Therefore, it is necessary that we find a solution that is our very own, of our own nation. It should be a solution acceptable to all sections of the people. We expect cooperation for it from the international community and not obstruction."
Even if the Sri Lankan government were to improve the infrastructure in the war ravaged areas and bring separatists into the political process, it might not be enough if the Tamil diaspora continued to side with the independence doctrine of the late Tiger leader Velupillai Prabakaran. Prabakaran was uncompromising on a federal solution.
"Everytime we discussed a federal solution he seemed very uncomfortable," Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Minister of International Development who was the special peace envoy during the failed peace bid said.
The government's challenge therefore is massive – getting the protagonists to come on board for a home grown solution which meets aspirations of every community.
What are the reasons for Rajapakse's military success? He was backed by a Commander of the Army who understood the LTTE's every move.
General Fonseka braved the LTTE's era of military successes over a rather unprepared Sri Lankan military. He had learnt his lessons and moulded his troops to a forward looking, disciplined outfit which knew no fears.
For the first time in the conflict the troops were moving out seeking the enemy with new found determination in the knowledge that they were being backed by a resolute Commander in General Fonseka and a Commander-in-Chief, the president.
"The president was able to defeat the LTTE's attempt to internationalize the military campaign. He was unbowed by international pressure", Dew Gunasekera, the Minister of Constitutional Affairs noted.
He said many local and international figures made every attempt to bring pressure on the government to stop the campaign citing human rights violations. Ignoring such pressures had gone a long way in achieving the military success.
Prabakaran and his outfit's downfall was its own making, "they fell into their own grave," Douglas Devananda, a fellow Tamil and a government minister noted. The Island newspaper was more explicit, "Prabakaran's downfall had to do with his hubris racial hatred and unspeakable cruelty. No liberation movement harms innocent men, women and children."
The defection of the LTTE's eastern commander Karuna who later became a minister in the government meant that the rebel outfit had lost one of its most able battle commanders. His exit had the spiralling effect of drying up of recruitment resources from the Eastern Province in to the LTTE's fighting cadre.
"Please tell our king to save all our people," an elderly internally displaced woman said referring to the president soon after arriving in areas of government control from the last hold of the LTTE. This echoed depths of despair the Tamil minority was driven under by the decades old conflict.
"The curse of terrorism that was crippling Sri Lanka is no more and it is certainly a matter that everyone should feel happy about, but the wounds will take several months or even years to heal," Veerasingham Anandasangaree, a veteran Tamil politician noted.
(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2009)
