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Sri Lanka: Winning the peace

The war there is over, but not necessarily Sri Lanka's travails. The government of President Mahinda Rajapakse has won the war. Nowitmust\vorkhardtdwihthe peace. ... \ ,

IFTEKHAR AHMED CHOWDHURY
THE Latin historian Tacitus wrote: "They made solitude or silence and called it peace." Let this not be said of the Sri Lankan situation. The war there is over, but not necessarily Sri Lanka's travails. The government of President Mahinda Rajapakse has won the war. Now it must work hard to win the peace. Or futurity will see this only as an Ozymandian moment that was not seized upon. It is anticipated that the world will remain focused on Sri Lanka, to see how the victors are able to meet the ensuing challenges resulting from the end to the conflict.
Two important contemporary concepts, both endorsed by the international community at the United Nations, will be tested in Sri Lanka. One is with regard to "Peace-Building." It implies a series of measures to stabilise a post-conflict society into such an equilibrium so as to prevent it from sliding back into a situation of chaos. In this respect, much will depend on how the genuine grievances of the Tamil minority community are tackled.A good way to go about it would be to focus on the "low hanging fruits" to start with. These are complaints that may be immediately remedied. "Quick Impact Projects," or QIPs, that can be easily implemented will be seen as a gesture of goodwill. These are manageable projects, and could start with the delivery of welfare to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the refugee camps.
A graduated progression along the "four Rs" for the affected - relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation — will help immeasurably. These will assist in the creation of the much-needed structure of confidence. The setting up of a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" was effective in South Africa. Will it be relevant to Sri Lanka? The government may find it worth examining.
The second is the concept of "Responsibility to Protect," or "R2R" the jargon by which it is known in the international community. Simply put, it means that it is the responsibility of every state to protect its own citizens: if the state is unable or unwilling to do so then the responsibility would devolve on the international community, which would discharge it working through the United Nations. The process would begin with diplomatic means, and force would only be used in the last resort. The principle was-unanimously adopted at the Summit of World Leaders at the UN in New' York in 2005, and would be applicable if one or more of four situations existed: "genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity."
One might as well add that the Sri Lankan government, with a modicum of understandable reason, is extremely sensitive to this idea. They connect it with the erosion of sovereignty. They argue that none of the four circumstances is present in Sri Lanka. The UN is also chary of broadening the application of the concept too much, as is evident in several statements made by Professor Ed Luck, the secretary general's Special Advisor for"R2P." Military intervention, in any case a last resort, is well nigh ruled out because neither China nor Russia would approve it in the Security Council.
But nothing prevents Sri Lanka itself from seeking international support and succour to resolve the issues. This can be done with the government itself in the driver's seat This would only enhance the government’s credibility. The large Tamil diaspora is already becoming active. Learning from others also comes to mind. What about examining how issues of racial harmony are being dealt with, successfully to date, in
another Asian island country with which Sri Lanka shares so many commonalities, Singapore?
All are aware of Sri Lanka's great potential. both economic and political, to play a positive and constructive role in the region and in the world. In the past. Sri Lankans have helped shape some of the global norms and standards by which we live today. One is reminded of their active participation in many international fora. This includes the development of the idea of" Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace." They have contributed enormously to global thinking, progress and stability. The world now awaits the reengagement of Sri Lanka in the sculpting of the global future.
Earlier post colonial South Asian generations placed great store by the views of the great British Fabian Socialist thinker and writer, Harold Laski. It used to be said, for instance, that in Jawaharlal Nehru's first Indian cabinet "there was always an empty chair for Harold Laski." Laski once said: "The one way to avoid violent outbreak is not exclusion of people from power, but their participation in it" Alas, in contemporary South Asia this is a lesson lost on many societies!
Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, who was the Foreign Advisa in the past Caretaker Government s currently a Senia Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, Singapore National Un,vers ty.