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Ethnic reconciliation with India’s blessings: Highlight of President’s policy statement in Parliament
View(s):A pledge to launch an ethnic reconciliation programme is likely to be a highlight of the policy statement President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is to make to Parliament on Tuesday.
The statement follows the prorogation of Parliament on December 12 last year and the requirement for a ceremonial opening with a policy statement from the President in terms of the Constitution.
The contours of the reconciliation programme are now on the drawing boards and are to delve with issues over which there is already common agreement. The focus is on matters relating to the 13th Amendment over which broader commitments have been made by Sri Lankan political leaders. They have also been endorsed by Indian leaders.
A forerunner to this, a government source said, was the blessings the Sri Lanka Government would receive for the exercise from India. New Delhi has already declared financial and material support to Sri Lanka in the wake of the current economic crisis. Now with a strong new clout, the source said, New Delhi would find itself in a position to obviate criticism in Tamil Nadu over helping Sri Lanka by endorsing the enforcement of provisions already agreed upon. However, what precisely those issues are remains to be determined, the source added.
The ruling Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) last year won four seats in the Tamil Nadu state. It believes that winning “outstanding demands” of the Tamils in Sri Lanka would further enhance its status in the southern Indian state. This is the rationale behind New Delhi calling upon Tamil political parties to place on record together the common demands so it could form the starting point. However, the initial move saw differences among plantation sector and Muslim political parties besides others. Now, a fresh memorandum is in the making and is to be finalised anytime now, the source added.
Senior government leaders view the move as also a damper to the upcoming UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions on Sri Lanka. If India did support the resolution against Sri Lanka last year, the government believes it could play a mitigating role by pointing out that issues at focus are being now addressed.
There has also been disappointment at the UNHRC in Geneva that despite Human Rights Commissioner Michele Bachelot’s efforts, the move to obtain the full amount for a new secretariat to further probe human rights in Sri Lanka has misfired. The 46th sessions will begin in February. She now wants to raise the reduced amount through contributions from other countries. Amidst speculation in diplomatic circles, Lord Tariq Ahmed, Baron Ahmed of Wimbledon, will arrive in Sri Lanka on Wednesday for talks with government leaders. The speculation is about further action at the UN but whether it would materialise remains a critical question.
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