Letters to the editor

We have frittered away valuable time and money to-ing and fro-ing around the globe — to smoke the pipe of peace for Sri Lanka — always resulting in a deadlock on some marginal issue.

An agenda - mutually agreed on before taking wing to distant lands - in an euphoria of a trip abroad at state expense, ‘with everything found', is an essential prerequisite to the actual process of a serious and responsible discussion that would be the crux of the entire exercise.

The “talks” (I would opt for a better word, “discussion” in the spirit of negotiation and conciliation) must be handled by men and women who are capable of entering whole-heartedly into the spirit of such discussions.

Rigidity of stance and utterance will be - and has been, counterproductive. The routine attribution of blame by one side to the other will not help, either. This is puerile.

One of the fundamentals to be agreed on is whether a mutually satisfactory solution can be worked out, within the framework of a unitary state. So in my thinking this would be the first step. The rest — the crossing of the ‘T’s and the dotting of the ‘I’s will follow. Is it because this fundamental concept has not been discussed and agreed upon that lame excuses are adduced to “not talk” be it the A9 highway or Sinhala aggression? Is the brainwashed concept of “homeland’ a barrier to any settlement, within the framework of a unitary state? The Tamils have lived and worked in all parts of the country, being heir to Sri Lankan persons to boot. They are as talented as those of one other "race".

The next point is the composition of the Sri Lankan state team to negotiate, conciliate, and arrive at a fair and just solution to the problem.

I would advocate consideration of a new team. Jayantha Dhanapala (whom we backed to the hilt for the position of Secretary General of the United Nations) must surely be on the panel of team members. Other names I would seriously evaluate are Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu, Desmond Fernando (Law) and Rohan Edrisinha.

The inclusion of Dr. Saravanamuttu will indicate that the Tamils have other view points and consequently cannot be bulldozed into accepting the Tigers who propagate the myth that they are the sole representatives of the Sri Lankan Tamils, with all guns ablaze!

So our next “Team” must be a group that will work in harmony, in the true spirit of arriving at a negotiated settlement. It should be a Sri Lankan Team.

The agenda (with items prioritized) must be worked out jointly before dates for any further “talks” are determined.

Perhaps, the agenda can be worked out in an idyllic atoll of the Maldive Islands, Bolufashi, perhaps. Security-wise, a sound idea, as well.

Let the objective of the discussion be foremost in one’s mind.

Prince Charles once remarked, that, “a country free enough to examine its own conscience is a land, worth living in – a nation to be envied”.

Let us also remember that “laughter is the closest distance between two people!”

Some of our teams have been overburdened with a sense of their own importance, thwarting, thereby, free and easy dialogue. The same is true of the LTTE delegations –pig headed.

Let us climb down from our pedestals and resolve to talk to one another, freely and sincerely, with conflict resolution skills being given the utmost priority when our next “team” is determined.