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Good
wishes but hope they come true? Despite the somewhat muted revelry last night (the indomitable spirit of us Sri Lankans to party is hard to suppress) and the fireworks heralding yet another year in the Christian calendar (the world celebrates 2550 years of the Buddhist Era in the month of Vesak) -- the ominous signs of a resumption of hostilities loom very much on the horizon. This
cannot be the wish of the majority of peace-loving Sri Lankans --
from whatever community or religious faith. It can only be the wish
of the LTTE which exercises violence as an instrument of achieving
its political objectives. And are they reasonable objectives that can be attained -- or granted by any self-respecting government or nation? But that is not going to deter the LTTE in its quest for what it has waged a relentless insurgency bordering on civil war in this country for nearly quarter of a century. What
it seems to be engaged in currently, very clearly is to destabilise
the northern Jaffna peninsula with a view to making it ungovernable
-- and then to make a military bid to wrest it from Colombo's control.
Then, the LTTE will want to administer it, like it is doing in the
areas 'controlled' by it in the Wanni. Already, the Palestine intifada-style student/civilian agitation campaign is afoot --testing the patience of the military to its very limits. It is worth considering how much the Sri Lankan armed forces are restraining themselves when you compare the way the US-led coalition forces react to similar attacks on them in occupied Iraq. Critics, however, think that the restraint on the part of the Sri Lankan forces is purely due to their own incapacity to deal with the situation. Inexperience in managing the volatile situation -- politically, internationally and militarily -- seems to be the hallmark of the new government which is just learning on the job as it were. The spill-over factor in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu state of southern India has raised the spectre of the immediate post-1983 era when a hysterical state, her political leaders, her media and her people -- 'en masse' -- gave open support to the Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups garlanding them and showering them with financial and other largesse to bash the Sri Lankan state. The
impending Tamil Nadu elections this year is only going to aggravate
and exacerbate the Sri Lankan situation -- and to expect the LTTE
not to exploit this scenario in the coming months is to live in
a make-believe world. The cycle of violence and tit-for-tat encounters have turned this once tranquil paradise isle into one of the modern world's hell-holes. Corresponding with this menace is wasted years in stagnant economic activity not even remotely connected with the insurgency. The Central Bank reports a growth rate of 5.5 pe cent for 2005 with a staggering inflation rate of 11.6 per cent. Sheer inefficient governance; economic mismanagement by political square-pegs, corruption and waste at the highest levels of government - in fact, a whole gamut of wrongdoings have seen Sri Lanka sink deeper and deeper into the mire. But
each new year brings with it new hope. And hope is something we
must all have. So though not much has changed and while nature seems
to be wanting us to slow down - with warnings of tsunamis, hurricanes
and earthquakes suddenly becoming commonplace, we must count our
blessings for what we have - and respect nature as our ancient and
wise forefathers did. We must relish the sunrise and the sunset
each day, hope that the rains come down on time and that our rulers
rule justly and that we too contribute our mite so that this country
may still emerge stronger in the New Year. |
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