A Question of Co-existence


Written by Fahmida Ashraf • Region • March 2011

President Rajapaksa in his speech on the 63rd Anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence on February 4, 2011, stressed “an enormous attitudinal change” to achieve national development. He said, “The country cannot be developed solely on popular decisions. Inconvenient and difficult decisions are also necessary for the nation’s progress.” In the post-May 2009 period, Sri Lanka is passing through a decisive phase. As rightly stressed by President Rajapaksa, to deal with the main challenges of promoting national reconciliation, national harmony and development, the government and the Sri Lankan nation as a whole and the Sinhalese and Tamil community in particular, will have to take some unpopular and difficult decisions. The bloody civil war has resulted in creating a wide gap of distrust between the Tamil and Sinhalese populations. It is a known fact that Tamils from the Northern and Eastern provinces were the main sufferers during the civil war, while the country was being ruled by various Sinhalese governments. Mainly the Tamils experienced internal displacement, immigration, and major destruction of the institutions, infrastructures and social services. This has resulted in a major ethnic and political divide between the Tamils and Sinhalese community in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan government cannot ignore about one million Sri Lankan Tamils living abroad. They have been supporting Tamil guerrilla groups advocating the demand for a separate state. Though after the defeat of LTTE the Tamil guerrilla network abroad has weakened, yet it still exists and is active in building pressure on Sri Lankan government. Recently, the Tamils abroad marked the 63rd Independence Day as ‘black day’.

Now that the civil war is over, one of the main questions is; whether the Tamil and Sinhalese community will be able to cooperate and co-exist in the country, just like other minority communities, such as Muslims, are living in Sri Lanka? For this purpose political will and a rational approach is required for building an atmosphere of trust and harmony between the two communities. Thus, for bridging the ethnic and political divide between the two communities President Rajapaksa has started a dialogue process, during 2010, with the representatives of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and it is hoped that the Rajapaksa government and TNA representatives would be able to evolve some formula for devolution of power.

The TNA is a major party representing Tamils in Sri Lanka. The TNA won 14 seats, mainly from the Northern and Eastern provinces, during the 14th parliamentary elections held in April 2010. The TNA basically supports the right of self-determination of the Tamils and the merger of Northern and Eastern provinces based on federal structure. Whereas President Rajapaksa has been talking about devolution of power, however, Rajapaksa and his alliance, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) having hardline Sinhalese parties, supports a unitary structure for Sri Lanka.

President Rajapaksa and TNA representatives met for the first time in June 2010 and then formed special committees with the basic aim of finding ways and means for a solution to the grievances of the people, mainly Tamils, living in Northern and Eastern provinces. The special committees, comprising members of the government and the TNA, held its first meeting in January 2011. The special committees held another meeting on February 3, 2011 where it was decided to “continue with a structured regular dialogue on constitutional changes for ethnic reconciliation and lasting peace.” The next meeting is scheduled for March 2011. Though the Rajapaksa government and TNA have different stands regarding constitutional changes on federal lines, yet it is hoped that through negotiations they will be able to reach an amicable settlement leading to political harmony in Sri Lanka and also influence the approach of Tamils living abroad.