[Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona, Asiantribune.com, 14 April 2010]
Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona.
Sri Lanka has undergone a string of catastrophic experiences resulting in thousands of persons being displaced in recent years with significant consequences for the economy. However, it has dealt with these challenges with remarkable success in the face of skeptical international comment and misinformation.
On Boxing Day in December 2004, over one million people were displaced in a matter of minutes as the Indian Ocean Tsunami surged across Sri Lanka’s shores. 34,000 died. 97,000 dwellings were either destroyed or damaged. Thousands of small businesses, including in the economically important tourism sector, were destroyed. The devastation that engulfed the country in those horrid days was difficult to describe.
But, significantly, following this natural calamity there was no looting. Again in 2007, 187,000 persons were displaced when the security forces evicted the terrorist LTTE from the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. These victims of the internal conflict were quickly accommodated in tent camps, and provided with food, water and health care. The UNHCR, the ICRC and WFP and other international organizations were active in assisting in caring for the displaced and facilitating their return to their homes. The battle for Vakarai in the East, where the LTTE held 34,000 as hostages and as a human shield, was to repeat itself later.
Towards the end of the conflict in the North, about 294,000 persons were displaced when the LTTE cynically herded the inhabitants of the villages and towns of the Vanni into a rapidly shrinking enclave in Mulaitivu as part of their military strategy and then used them as a human shield and as a bargaining chip in a deadly hostage game. Belated appeals from the international community for their release fell on deaf ears. Held against their will for weeks in an ever decreasing zone, all these people were rescued by the security forces subsequently in an unprecedented operation at great cost to themselves. Thousands streamed out of the LTTE’s final stronghold when the security forces broke through. Later most of them were provided shelter, food and medical assistance in massive government run camps. The government had anticipated this exodus and was prepared to deal with it.
Almost everyone who was displaced by the Tsunami was returned to his/her home, sometimes to a better home, within a period of three years. In some areas, reconstruction has exceeded 110%. Much of the business activity has resumed and tourism in the affected areas has revived. The much anticipated epidemics and diseases did not occur in Sri Lanka. Troops that were deployed to help the victims went unarmed and wearing rubber Wellington boots. People did not languish in camps longer than necessary.
One is tempted to contrast this with the aftermath of natural disasters that have occurred elsewhere, including in the US. Much of Sri Lanka’s success in dealing with the aftermath of the tsunami was owed to its well developed health services sector and the caring nature and generosity of its own people. The initial supplies of food and water for the displaced came from neighbouring villages. The services infrastructure of Sri Lanka stood up to the unexpected challenge superbly and the health needs of the displaced were met. Later significant assistance was received from the international community and well-wishers overseas although the entirety of the funds pledged with much fanfare never reached the country.
Similarly, most of the persons displaced in the Eastern Province have now been returned to their homes. Despite all the reservations expressed at the time, these refugees have successfully re-established themselves in their villages and towns. The UN played a critical role but it was mainly through Sri Lanka’s own effort that the returns were effected. The abandoned villages have been reconstructed, the roads and irrigation works rehabilitated, the schools and clinics restored and the whole province revived. The economic progress of the province has been impressive. In 2007 elections were held for the Eastern Provincial Council and the democratic processes were reestablished almost after twenty years of terrorist rule.
The process of returning those displaced in the Vanni to their homes has progressed well. By the end of February 2010, less than 65,000 of the original 294,000 remained in the camps. The camps which were established to ensure the organized provision of shelter, food, sanitary needs, healthcare, educational facilities for the children, and most importantly security, served their purpose and would be consigned to history soon. They were the focus of international concern for months, but security concerns were important. A country that had suffered indiscriminate and brutal terrorism for over 27 years could not be expected to take too many risks, particularly since over 12,700 former LTTE combatants had mingled with the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the camps.
Ending the Conflict
Ending the conflict after 27 years of blood, carnage and frequent disappointment, and winning the war was an unparalleled achievement. Sri Lanka did this convincingly and substantially on its own, deliberately brushing aside the cards stacked against it. It ignored the script and the tons of unsolicited advice, but the finale was overwhelmingly convincing compared with efforts in the wider region by larger and better equipped forces thousands of miles from their own borders to counter terrorist threats. Sri Lanka methodically converted a feared guerrilla group, once described by the FB as being “among the most dangerous and deadly extremists in the world”, into a weak conventional force and set about eliminating it.
The LTTE in a monumental tactical blunder, let itself be isolated and surrounded in a desolate beach in North Eastern Sri Lanka and ignored repeated but belated calls by the international community to let its human shield of unwilling civilians go and to surrender. There is evidence to suggest that the LTTE leadership believed that it would be rescued by the intervention of the international community (read Western). The enthusiastic efforts by the UK, France, Norway, and the UN to force a humanitarian pause to the conflict when the LTTE was on its last legs, may have encouraged this expectation. But without much advance notice, the fighting ended. Strangely, some of those who were calling for a humanitarian ceasefire, now began to call for humanitarian accountability. Sri Lankans find this difficult to understand given the overwhelming relief that has swept the country since the defeat of the LTTE.
The victory generated confidence
The victory generated much confidence in the country, as was demonstrated by the jubilation that erupted in the nation following the silencing of the guns, the outpouring of support for the Government, the record upward movement in the stock market and the increased inward investment flows over the months. Inflation has dipped to an all time low, unemployment is less than 5%, foreign currency reserves have increased sharply, the rupee has maintained its value, and other positive indications have multiplied. The IMF extended a standly loan of $ 2.6 billion when Sri Lanka only asked for 1.9 billion. Significantly, the removal of the blanket of fear that had engulfed the country for over twenty years or the quick return of normalcy does not appear to have registered with those who keep focusing only on the past and on allegations of violations of humanitarian standards essentially initiated by elements seeking to score political points.
The Government, comfortable with the substantial endorsement it has received from its electorate, has continued to enlarge its support base, winning a series of Provincial Council elections emphatically in 2008 and 2009 and the presidential election in 2010. In fact, no government in the past has enjoyed so much popular support after five years in office. There is very little doubt that the vast majority of the people in the country are behind the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. To ignore this political reality, as is evidenced by the international manoeuvring of some, is to miss an unparalleled opportunity in history to help Sri Lanka to recover and ensure prosperity for all its people. This political confidence can now be converted into sustainable peace and economic activity.
The success of the security forces and Sri Lanka’s diplomacy, has also aroused significant admiration around the world, which, properly managed, could produce tangible benefits and, perhaps some resentment. Sri Lanka was forced to develop relations in the region to secure continued economic and military assistance, after Western countries under pressure from their pro LTTE lobbies, curtailed economic assistance and suspended military cooperation. India, itself threatened by terrorism, maintained a solidly supportive stance during this period.
Terrorist groups remain a threat elsewhere in the world despite the deployment of much more sophisticated forces, advanced equipment and substantially more resources. Deaths and injury and the large scale displacement of civilians in other places continue without arousing much comment. Canada has decided to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by 2011 without securing its initial goals and leaving behind much damage and destruction and thousands of displaced persons. So has the Netherlands. UN figures indicate that 26 million are currently displaced the world over, including in Asia, some directly caused by external interventions. 250,000 were displaced in Pakistan in the last few weeks of 2009. Many of the displaced around the world have remained in squalid camps for years and years.
Consolidating the peace
Sri Lanka’s next challenge is to consolidate the peace and ensure security and prosperity to all its citizens, from Dondra Head in the South to Point Pedro in the North. And this will be as daunting and complicated a task as dealing with the aftermath of the Tsunami, winning the war and will require a range of complex tactical approaches. It recovered substantially from the Tsunami in about three years. Hardly a sign remains to remind the world of the devastation caused by the giant waves. That experience will stand the country in good stead. Likewise, it will be useful as it restores universal confidence in the country, among all its citizens, win over those who may entertain reservations that Sri Lanka’s conflict is really over, convince the world that the victory will benefit all the people without distinction, care for the thousands who were displaced and return them to their own homes, with better livelihood opportunities, generate investment capital, and establish an environment, socially, economically and politically, where every individual's dignity is respected and their true potential is realised in full.
For over twenty seven years, due to a conflict which was not of its own making, Sri Lanka’s resources remained under utilised, were diverted to the war effort, sometimes haphazardly, enterprises struggled to survive, tourism and inward investment suffered seriously, the cream of its youth went gallantly and voluntarily to fight a shadowy and ruthless enemy and many paid with their lives, others were maimed, while quite a few took the easy way out and left the country, and a country that was meant to be a beacon to the region, stagnated in the global backwater. An all pervading sense of fear and uncertainty prevailed. Since the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009, the Government has been providing an energetic lead in reaching the goal of prosperity for all. It is recognized that peace must be made a reality for all of the people and not continue to be only an aspiration for some.
The return of all the displaced to their own homes and the restoration of active economic activity has become a priority. It has been costing approximately one million Dollars per day only to provide food for the displaced persons in the camps. Sri Lanka could ill afford this expenditure. Therefore, their return to their own homes was always central to the thinking of Government planners. The displaced returned to their homes at the rate of 1500 – 2000 every day. They need housing, subsistence assistance, at least for a few months and utensils and seed material to restart their lives. A retreating LTTE had made their houses unlivable by removing the roofs and houses without roofs in the tropics are soon overrun by the jungle. The government for its part, has been providing start-up kits to the returnees consisting of kitchen utensils, 6 months’ dry rations with the assistance of the WFP, agricultural tool kits, a shelter grant of Rs. 250,000/- with UNDP assistance, fertilizer and transportation. The roads, destroyed during 30 years of fighting need to be repaired, the schools and clinics need to be rehabilitated and the farms and irrigation works need restoration. All of which will require massive investments.
Caring for the Displaced
The immediate need after the end of the conflict was to care for those who became its involuntary victims as was done with the victims of the Tsunami. The camps that dotted Sri Lanka’s coast-line after the Tsunami are only a distant memory now. Instead, neat, newly constructed villages have taken their place. It is now history that the LTTE, as it fled from one town to another and from one village to another, swept with it the civilian population and cynically used them, the very people it purported to champion, as a human shield. It is quite clear now that they located their fighters and big guns among the civilians. The civilians were the involuntary victims of a terrorist group’s deadly strategy. The LTTE knew well that these innocent civilians would suffer terribly by being forced to partake in this dreadful game. But they callously persisted and used them as pawns in pursuing their deadly strategy. The vast majority of these civilians clearly had no desire to be part of the LTTE game plan and as soon as the security forces broke through the terrorist defences in April and May 2009, fled in to government controlled areas carrying whatever they could gather. This phenomenon unfolded on TV screens around the world and it was clear that these were not reluctant escapees. They were making a desperate dash away from their ruthless captors, on occasion being subjected to gunfire and bomb blasts from them.
The security forces, demonstrating the impact of their careful training and meticulous planning, exercised amazing restraint as they advanced, at great cost to themselves. The infantry advance resulted in serious casualties to the security forces (The army may have lost over 6000 men in the last months of the conflict). Many a child lost its soldier father and a young wife her husband because of this policy of trying to avoid civilian casualties. Of course, as a consequence, the much anticipated and often trumpeted "blood bath" or the "humanitarian catastrophe" failed to materialise. (The highly exaggerated claims made by some cannot really be substantiated other than by relying on unverified and dubious assertions.) In retrospect, one wonders whether the predictions of a “blood bath” were based on a sincere desire to protect the civilians or was simply a cynical ploy to pressure the Government into halting its advance against the terrorists with a view to providing them with some respite. The effect of the LTTE led propaganda campaign in the West cannot be underestimated.
Considerable thought and planning went into establishing the camps for the displaced and the bureaucracy, with its experience from the East and the tsunami, finalised details with meticulous care. The location of the tents, the water supply, sanitary facilities, kitchens and schools were planned in advance. In the process the NGOs and the international community may have been left aside, causing resentment. The fact that little Sri Lanka could do these, all on its own, was not appreciated. While the large number of persons who fled from the unwelcome embrace of the LTTE, stretched the resources of the government and certain shortcomings began to be identified, efforts continued to be made to improve the conditions in the camps for those who remained. Major cities like Toronto, London and Melbourne were brought to a halt by thousands of demonstrating Tamils as the Government security forces pinned down the LTTE leadership.
The government provided temporary shelters which were more like small rural dwellings, including by obtaining 6500 large tents from China. The shelters provided by international agencies, including the UN, could have been of better quality. The material used in them was not suited to the Sri Lankan climate and they created social problems. The small plastic tents provided by the UNHCR were unsuitable for the tropics. While the government was determined that these shelters should not become permanent dwellings, every effort was made to ensure that the temporary stay of the displaced was as comfortable as possible. Shelter, food, hygiene and health needs of the IDPs were met. Sri Lanka succeeded in avoiding the familiar images from refugee camps elsewhere, like the Congo, Darfur, Sierra Leone, etc., of forlorn children with sunken eyes, waiting by the road side for a passing relief truck to throw out food or water. The visiting cross-party delegation from the UK House of Commons, under the leadership of Des Browne, was very complementary in their observations. While individual Sri Lankans from the villages in the South made massive contributions in money and material, water, food, clothing, etc. to make camps more habitable, some private sector entities also participated in the relief effort.
As the IDPs return to their homes, a serious challenge continues to be posed by unmapped LTTE mine fields in the North. The Government estimates that there are over 402 Sq. km. of mine fields to be cleared. Over 1.5 million mines had been laid. Many villages have been demined, largely by the Army. 29 demining machines were obtained, mainly from the Czech Republic with assistance from UNHCR and Australia. Assistance was also provided by the UN, India, Japan, Norway, the UK, the US, etc. 70% of the demining has been achieved by the Sri Lankan Army.
Restoring Normalcy
The security concerns of the government were genuine. The former LTTE cadres in the camps were carefully separated and sent to rehabilitation facilities. Over 12,700 were identified, either through a voluntary process or following information obtained by investigators. The government took the view that other than the hard core terrorists, especially those who had been involved in committing the most serious crimes, the other LTTE cadres will be treated as victims, rehabilitated and returned to their own communities. These included the thousands of child soldiers trained and used for combat by the LTTE. In the final days of the conflict child soldiers, armed with deadly weapons, were sent into battle. Children, in particular, will be treated as victims and not as criminals. It has been announced that all child soldiers will be released by May 2010. UNICEF has played a valuable role in the rehabilitation of child soldiers. Already thousands from the Mannar region, Kilinochchi, Jaffna and the East have returned home. Family reunions have progressed and over 17,000 individuals, separated from their families, have been reunited.
Educational facilities were provided in the camps, 40,000 children were provided schooling facilities, including the opportunity to sit for their exams within the camps until they could return to their villages. The teachers who had fled from the LTTE with thousands of others in April and May 2009, were readily engaged for this purpose. This was symbolic of the government's plans for the future. While these children may have lacked many of the facilities of normal schools elsewhere, it was testimony to the government's commitment to ensuring a degree of normalcy to the occupants of the camps until they returned to their own villages.
The Tsunami experience was put to good use. The children who for months had been herded from one LTTE defence line to another or dragged out into jungle training camps to achieve the deluded goals of a sick mind, could now do what other children do – study and dream of normal achievements. Dream of becoming doctors or lawyers or teachers. Restoring the schools in the villages in the North will require a considerable investment and is a priority. These children will also need continued support with school material. Unlike many of their colleagues who were thrown up as cannon fodder and their young lives vainly sacrificed to satisfy a megalomaniac's delusion, (UNICEF records indicate over 5700 children being recruited as child soldiers by the LTTE) it is hoped that these children will grow up to be useful citizens and achieve their dreams in their own way. The emphasis that the Tamil community always placed on education has been recognised by the government. Many of Colombo’s leading professionals are from that community. It has been noted that a significant number of teenage girls had become pregnant simply to avoid being sent for military training, and bears testimony to the evil nature of the LTTE regime that existed.
The IDP camps also provided banking and postal facilities. In a welcome development, the banks received close to Rs 400 million in deposits in the space of two days in June 2009. Since then the major banks have reopened branches in Jaffna and other Northern towns and are doing a brisk business. On the one hand, this clearly demonstrated that many in the camps had significant financial resources and that all were not uniformly destitute. Some obviously carried their money and gold carefully with them and managed to keep it away from the LTTE.
This is in stark contrast to the IDPs who have poured in to camps elsewhere in the world, including in the former Yugoslavia. On the other, it also indicates that the displaced had confidence in Sri Lanka’s banking system. The government has been working on enhancing this feeling of confidence. It is also no secret that some residents of the camps continued to receive sizable remittances from overseas, from family members and friends.
Continuing financial support from relatives living abroad will assist significantly in restoring normalcy to the communities in the North in the shortest possible time as these people return to their homes. (It is estimated that over 1.3 million Sri Lankan Tamils live in the West and many have prospered.) The large number of Tamils in Western countries were a ready source of funds for the LTTE war machine. Those who either voluntarily, or through coercion, made monthly contributions to the LTTE, now have the opportunity to help a relative or a family friend to return to normal life through a similar contribution. The small businesses, the agriculture, the services, the continued education of children, etc will require large infusions of funds.
As normalcy returns, Sri Lankan companies established overseas, are beginning to explore the opportunities opening up especially in the areas of tourism, fisheries and agriculture. The North and the East offer spectacular opportunities in these areas. Special incentives are provided by the government for investing in the North and the East. This is in addition to the incentives provided for all foreign investments. Already one can see the significant changes occurring along the Eastern coast. The agricultural infrastructure that was destroyed by the LTTE to build defensive earth works and trenches is now being restored. The roads and power lines are being reconstructed rapidly. The coast road upto Trincomalee built with overseas aid is a delight. The fishing industry has rebounded.
The government made a public commitment to return the displaced persons to their own communities within 180 days. The camps were going to remain transit facilities only despite these being used as another stick with which to beat Sri Lanka. It is the hope of the Government that the IDPs will return home, not with the hatred kindled in their hearts by 27 years of LTTE indoctrination, but with the hope of a better life before them and the possibilities of being shareholders of a uniformly prosperous Sri Lanka. For over two and a half decades the LTTE diverted all its energies and resources, including funds provided by development agencies, to construct endless fortifications and extensive bunkers in areas controlled by it and very little was built to benefit the civilian population. There was little evidence of the thousands of tons of cement and steel sent up to LTTE controlled areas during the ceasefire having been used to benefit civilians.
Restoring of Democracy
The government has made a firm commitment to restore democracy and democratic institutions in the North and the East so that the people could elect their own representatives to govern them and where no legacy of an all powerful and eternal 'supremo' remains. As President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on 19th May 2009 “Ending terrorism in Sri Lanka means a victory for democracy in the world. Sri Lanka has now given a beginning to the ending of terrorism in the world.” Sri Lanka has enjoyed universal adult suffrage since 1931. It is the intention of the government to ensure that what is taken for granted elsewhere in Sri Lanka by way of democratic governance is available in the North also and that the grievances of all our people are addressed through democratic mechanisms.
Unfortunately, during two decades of LTTE control the people of the North and the East were denied access to democratic elections – a factor that many in the Tamil community overseas, living comfortably in democratic countries, conveniently ignored. Over the last two years, elections have been held in eight provinces. A general election, including in the Northern and Eastern Provinces was held in April. It is recalled that the LTTE murdered, by the dozen, freely elected representatives of the Tamil people simply for not toeing the LTTE line, suppressed dissent and buried non-conformist views with those who held them. A long line of moderate Tamils who dissented, starting with Alfred Duraiappa in 1975, Mayor of Jaffna, were eliminated by the LTTE. Others were intimidated into keeping silent. Mr. Douglas Devananda, the Minister for Social Services, has had 13 attempts made on his life. Restoring confidence in the democratic system has become a priority for the government. Democratic governance is taken for granted by the 54% of Tamils who have chosen to live in the South of Sri Lanka and the same comfort level must also be available to all those displaced, as they return to their homes.
The Diaspora
As the confidence level of the displaced is restored, it will also be necessary to continue to reach out to the Tamil community scattered around the world. The 1.3 million Sri Lankan Tamils who now live in the West have become a significant element in domestic politics in their host countries. Many of those who were in the camps have relatives elsewhere in the world. There are many who have been fed a constant diet of anti-Sinhala propaganda by the LTTE and by a willing media ever searching for cheap headlines. This process has continued unabated.
Journalists who sacrifice their impartiality to advance personal agendas, even those who may never have experienced the horrors of 1983, may have lived a professional life filled with such propaganda. One of the key challenges of the Sri Lankan government will be to reassure the Sri Lankan Tamil community overseas that today's Sri Lanka will not tolerate a repetition of 1983 again. It is a fact that despite the LTTE's repeated bloody provocations, like the bomb attack on the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy and the massacres at the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura, the cold blooded massacres of Sinhala villagers at the Dollar Farm, and of the young monks in Arantalawa, mostly hacked to death, or the massacres of Mulsim worshippers at the Kaththankudy Mosque, or the horrendous bombings of the Central Bank building or the Fort bus station, there were no reprisals aimed at Tamil citizens elsewhere in the country. The civilian reprisals so desperately sought by the LTTE through the constant slaughter of Sinhala and Muslim civilians, as part of its devilish strategy of dividing and provoking the Sri Lankan community, did not eventuate. Despite highly publicised reports to the contrary, minorities have continued to prosper in Sinhala-dominated areas of the country, including Colombo.
Many of the leading business houses in Colombo are minority owned. Many of the leading professionals in Colombo come from the minority communities. 54% of Tamils of Sri Lanka live in the South among the Sinhalese. The inconveniences currently faced by those with no familiarity with Sinhala or English will disappear in time with the implementation of the Official Languages Policy. What the Government is doing in this area has not been adequately acknowledged. Devolution of power to the provinces is continuing consistent with 13 the Amendment to the Constitution. Even the nuisance of road blocks and sudden searches will become a thing of the past with the all pervading fear generated by LTTE suicide bombers diminishing and a greater level of confidence being restored, especially to the hard working security forces. In the East, a former child soldier was elected as the Chief Minister. Elections were held in Jaffna and Vavuniya. The government has taken upon itself the responsibility of contributing proactively to the consolidation of confidence in the Tamil community. Government departments are engaging themselves in the North and the East to provide services and improve infrastructure.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has repeatedly invited Sri Lankan Tamils from around the world to return to their homeland and become parties to the nation building effort, including at a highly publicised event to welcome prospective investors from abroad. A delegation of politicians from Tamil Nadu in South India returned to Chennai expressing satisfaction with the developments in Sri Lanka.
Dealing with the International Community
Sri Lanka has consistently followed a non-aligned foreign policy and has maintained friendly relations with a broad range of countries. It has managed to steer clear of bilateral rivalries, especially in the region. Sri Lanka’s period of Chairmanship of the SAARC witnessed a significant upsurge in cooperative ventures in the region designed to assist economic advancement and the relegation of bilateral suspicious to the background. It has maintained a committed approach to countering terrorism which is consistent with global attitudes.
The criticisms of the government by some Western countries, based on allegations of breaches of human rights and humanitarian standards, causes much resentment among the populace, not because Sri Lanka is unmindful of these standards, but because it is felt that the country is unfairly singled out for harsh criticism. The withdrawal of development assistance and military cooperation by certain Western countries forced Sri Lanka to look elsewhere at a time when the very existence of the nation was at stake, and this development was welcomed enthusiastically within the country. While the reliance on the West for economic aid and military assistance diminished, regional friends, such as China, Pakistan, Russia, Israel and India readily stepped into the breach.
As reconstruction and reconciliation become a priority, the Government has clearly stated that it is determined to reach out to all its friends and even to its former critics as it sets about the task of nation building. The criticism of the IDP camps by friendly countries (concentration camps?) has not been well received. The resentment which already existed was fuelled by the fact that much of the criticism came from countries which themselves had paid scant regard to human rights or humanitarian standards until recently. In fact, the conduct of anti terrorist wars in the region by countries that came from far has given rise to much adverse comment locally. The high civilian casualty rates and property destruction in those wars has created a sense of unfairness in the population at large.
However, the government of Sri Lanka has publicly stated its intention to make every effort to convince its critics that it continues to hold dear, those international standards, as it had done in the past. It will also seek to continue its relationships with existing friends based on national interest and principle. It is encouraging that in a recent report to Congress, the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate stated “The Obama Administration should take a broader and more robust approach to Sri Lanka that appreciates new political and economic realities in Sri Lanka and US geostrategic interests. Such an approach should be multi dimensional so that US policy is not driven solely by short term humanitarian concerns but rather an integrated strategy that leverages political, economic and security tools for more effective long term reforms.” Sri Lanka’s friends must recognize that what will be appreciated more would be concrete assistance rather than gratuitous advice or threatening attitudes which are resented by the vast majority in the country. It is a time for Sri Lanka’s friends to help in healing the wounds – not keeping them open.
Sri Lanka is at a critical juncture in its history. Its development process must continue. This is a core element in the healing process as economic incentives must be used to provide an alternative to returning to mosquito infested jungles. This is not the time to tighten economic options such as the withdrawal of the GSP+ concession by the EU. Sri Lanka has a unique opportunity to bring its people together and make the blessed island a better place for all. As the Bard said, time and tide waits for no man. Sri Lanka must grab this chance and ride the tide as it rushes in. It dealt with the tragedy of the Tsunami far better than most others have dealt with their own natural calamities. Sri Lanka will deal with the aftermath of its victory over terrorism equally well. It is also incumbent on its friends to ensure that its commitment to non-alignment remains in a world where power structures and economic strength have undergone dramatic change.
* Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona is Ambassador & Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York.