Views of the Oslo professor and further views related to it
“If the Sri Lankan government is to take forward the peace talks with LTTE in a meaningful manner there should be political maturity among the political actors in the South. Without this maturity no meaningful resolution will be found in the future peace talks.”
This is the view expressed by Kristian Stokke, Professor of Political Geography, who has also researched the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict for more than decade. It is doubtful if the Southern political leadership will listen or understand this strong view that demands some reflection. There are indeed no signs that the southern leadership has the maturity to receive such advice let alone act on it for the benefit of the people. There are no signs that it will reach that maturity anywhere in the near future. The professor’s view does convey one message very clearly. Professor’s view is that the present style of democracy in Sri Lanka will only maintain the continuation of the ethnic conflict. The truth is that although democracy, socialism and dharma are spoken about the driving force of the Sri Lankan politics is Sinhla Buddhist chauvinism. This is the root cause of the ethnic conflict. The southern political struggles while has the appearance of being democratic are in fact based on ethnic politics that openly rejects basic rights of the minorities. The humiliation and deceptions experienced by the Tamil side and other minority groups who attempted to hold talks with Sinhala leadership believing that it has in fact reached such a maturity are boundless. If the solution put forward by the Sinhala leadership for the ethnic problem was termed “war for peace” one can see the political maturity of that leadership. The election manifesto of the current presidential election that is held during a ceasefire period further demonstrates the war mentality of the Sinhala leadership. The Oslo professor’s message is therefore also saying that there are no signs of any progress in the peace efforts in the near future. Also to be taken note of is the fact that the professor is from, Norway, the country that is facilitating the peace efforts. International community, in particular, the EU, must take note of this. Eelanadu 31.10.2005, editorial
31 October 2005
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Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
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