Columns

Clearly the biggest challenge for the new NPP Government is to rescue the country and its people from the economic disaster that has befallen it since 2022 due to crass misgovernance by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Presidency. They are compelled to navigate the path to economic recovery within the framework of the IMF Agreement and the Debt Restructuring arrangements entered into by the Ranil Wickremesinghe dispensation while at the same time easing the difficulties experienced by the poor and marginalised. A very formidable task indeed that can test the skills of governance of the best of administrators.  

The events of the last fortnight brought to the fore the magnitude of the challenges that may confront the Government’s path to economic rebuilding from a restive population if misled by the machinations of disgruntled individuals and groups across the country.

Such Amber lights came in the form of the annual Maaveerar day commemoration on or around the 27th of November in the North. The Government for its part made it clear that the public would be permitted to commemorate their near and dear ones but no celebration of the LTTE, which was a proscribed Organisation, would be permitted. When the subject came up in Parliament last week the Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Ananda Wijepala stated that 244 such commemorations had taken place during the ‘Maaveerar’ week from November 21 to 27 in Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka while there had been at least 10 instances where LTTE symbols had been displayed in violation of the law. As the events of the week unfolded attention was focused on the arrests made consequent to some of the alleged violations of the law.

According to media reports it seemed that the CID had initially arrested four persons and produced them in Court. All of them had been released on bail.

In the case of one of these arrests, the Colombo Magistrate’s Court granted bail to the suspect who was alleged to have been arrested for sharing a social media post showing a photo originally shared by a Sri Lankan-origin French woman, which contained proscribed LTTE symbols.

According to the CID the suspect produced in the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court was arrested for posting a photograph of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on a social media platform to coincide with Maveerar Naal commemorations.

In the meantime there were also media reports that the police were planning to arrest the organisers of seven illegal commemorative events promoting the LTTE in the Northern Province. The reports on the individuals who organised those events had been submitted to the courts to facilitate their arrest.

According to allegations made by the Opposition the suspects in the North were arrested under the normal law while the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was used to arrest the suspects in the South, the implication being that the North and the South was treated differently. Whether this was true or not is not clear but the Government countered the allegation by stating that the Police were permitted to act independently and they applied the law according to their own understanding.

There were ominous signs of social media posts being used to create misgivings in the minds of the public with regard to the Government’s attitude towards separatism and minority grievances. Some of the public utterances from hardline groups also reflected a clear attempt to stir doubts among the majority with regard to the Government’s approach to treat all communities fairly and equally.

The Government for its part has repeatedly articulated its commitment to not permitting communal politics and religious extremism. Both President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya have emphasised that under the NPP regime they would not allow any party or group to indulge in racial tension or violence.

Addressing the Parliament the President summed up his thinking as follows: “We are a nation that has severely suffered at the hands of communal violence. This country has been bathed in blood and tears. Hatred has been allowed to grow among the people.”

While the leadership role of the Government is critical in Nation Building and National Reconciliation, it is imperative that at the grass roots level too such efforts have to be strengthened in order that the message of trust and harmony inform the daily lives of people.

In the North and East, Tamil Civil Society must educate the people about the difference between commemorating their dead and the futility of continuing to remain hostage to the memory of the LTTE.

The LTTE in fact caused irreparable damage to the fabric of Tamil society without actually benefiting them in the pursuit of solutions to their grievances. The LTTE’s intransigent nature prevented progress on resolving Tamil grievances by walking away from talks several times.

If this is not done the usual suspects who function as spoilers can use any missteps in the Tamil polity to forment unrest and undermine efforts to unite the country.

Additionally the challenge of economic reconstruction should not be undermined by efforts to sow dissension among communities whether they originate from the north or the south.

It is time for the country to seize the moment and resist all attempts to sow the seeds of division among the people. At this time when in the words of the IMF, “the economy is on a knife edge” any attempt to divide the people it is too high a price to pay.

(javidyusuf@gmail.com).