Editorial

Last weekend’s somewhat muted Vesak celebrations resulting from the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombings and the prevailing uneasiness in the country prevented the 10th anniversary of the defeat of the three decade-long northern terrorism from being given the attention it deserved.

Countries that still celebrate the battles of Somme and Gallipoli and Poppy Day in WW I, a war of more than a century ago, and the defeat of Fascism in WW II more than 70 years ago (they however don’t hail the bombing of Dresden or the Viet Nam war), say it is “triumphalism” to celebrate the defeat of terrorism in Sri Lanka.

It was terrorism that was defeated in 1971, 1989 and 2009. And this nation and generations to come must not be allowed to forget the great valour, patriotism and supreme sacrifices made by men in official uniform and civilians alike who got caught in the cross-fire, in the three insurgencies. Alas, now we have, or seem to have, a fourth on our hands.

A team of foreign reporters who went around the country recently noted the number of monuments, big and small, state-erected and privately initiated, from huge edifices to mass cemeteries to small bus shelters, some spick and span, others overgrown with weeds. The one thing in common – they are all dedicated to Sri Lankans who had fallen to acts of violence.

There was much in common as well in the southern and northern insurgencies. The ‘boys’ (and later the ‘girls’) who started these violent terror-driven movements were those who found no place for them in the existing Parliamentary democracy system. It was the caste system that closed the doors to many of them entering Parliament.

It was worse in the north than the south. The electorate vote their caste when they cast their vote, is an old cliché. The district becoming the electorate and the proportional representation system, with all its shortcomings, rectified this imbalance, but only somewhat. There were those who no doubt profited from this aberration, but a whole lot felt deprived and short-changed by Parliamentary elections.

In the meantime, Governments have been urged to expedite the post-war healing process and the stagnant reconciliation efforts while seeing to it that the so-called ‘deprived classes” got proper representation in the country’s Legislature. This is not by increasing the numbers of the already bloated House, but primarily by political parties taking cognizance of these undercurrents.

It is somewhat ironic that those who demanded the Armed Forces vacate the north, are now having second thoughts in the wake of the new wave of terrorism raising its ugly head, gripping the country with anxiety. Those in the north are only too aware that the LTTE indulged in ethnic cleansing first of the Jaffna town and then the North-Eastern and Eastern Provinces.

There is still much to be done in the war ravaged north. The Government has been slow in infrastructure development, especially in the area of housing; the reopening of the Palaly airport as a regional hub to reach out to southern Indian states – other than Tamil Nadu; and the imperative need for more effective patrolling of the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar. Even India which considered the poaching by its fishermen in Sri Lankan waters as a “humanitarian” issue, will understand the new dimensions these cross-border movements take and the grave danger posed by easy ‘entre’ for radicalised elements to southern India, quite apart from the growing heroin trade in these waters.

It is but a quirk of fate that the incessant demand for greater autonomy and self-rule in the north, than through the existing provincial councils, has subsided to a whimper with infighting among the northern politicians –and the threat of a radicalised movement from the east making its presence felt in the north.

The 30 years cost lives and limbs. People’s lives were turned upside down and thousands were displaced internally while scores left this country in bitterness. The country’s progress was stifled. The economy that was just about “taking-off”, as economists put it, was retarded for long periods. It was heavy price that was paid.

As we salute and remember the heroes who played their part in putting an end to those miserable years, it is now back to the politicians to see that such sorry chapters in our history are not to be repeated.

Working together with Modi’s India

 And so, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has swept back to high office, retaining his job in a stunning replica of his 2014 landslide victory.

The Opposition coalition led by the Congress Party and scion of the Gandhi family, Rahul Gandhi was unable to stop the Modi ‘juggernaut’ as it was popularly known from sweeping the polls in the world’s largest democracy. Modi critics say that the myth of “the intelligent Indian voter” has been exposed.

We have referred earlier to some lessons to be learnt from the manner in which India’s Elections Commission monitored the campaigning in the sub-continent, but accusations were many, even from the country’s Supreme Court, that it was found wanting.

There are also lessons for political parties in Sri Lanka; the good, the bad and the ugly. Mr. Modi’s BJP had superior organisational skills at the grassroots and in checking the pulse of the ordinary masses where the numbers were. On the downside, the BJP again ran on its ‘nationalism’ agenda, no different to the way the current US President reached out to a particular segment of the American population which the more liberal minded see as dangerous politics.

The Indian Opposition is now scrambling to make alliances, rather too late in the day. The anti-BJP votes got split in many states allowing the BJP to make inroads –in West Bengal and Odisha, etc. Now, as the winner, the BJP has the upper hand in attracting them to join the Government.

The fact that one party won an outright majority is good news for Sri Lanka. No longer need the Central Government in New Delhi dance to the tune of regional parties, as it had to not long ago, which even dictated its foreign policy, especially towards Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Mr. Modi has indicated clearly that he is a friend of Sri Lanka irrespective of the party in office in Colombo, and the once acrimonious bilateral relations hopefully are a thing of the past. The need now is for both South Asian neighbours to work together in good faith, for trade, security and the mutual benefit of both their peoples.  Sri Lanka, meanwhile, has to lift its efficiency levels in its dealings as an equal partner.