New
Delhi,Diplomacy,Indo-Pak/Pakistan, Tue, 22 Jan 2013 IANS
New
Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) Reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka after the end of the
30-year armed conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels have failed mainly because
they were top-down attempts and no effort was made to galvanise popular support
behind the proposals, a senior minister said here Tuesday.
Moreover, there was a
lack of political consensus over the implementation of various proposals that
were made in the past, External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris said. He was
delivering a lecture at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA)
on "The Rise of Asia and Sri Lanka's Role".
He referred to the
instance of one of the bills he presented in the Sri Lankan parliament, which
was burnt by the opposition.
He held that the ongoing
talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had identified certain issues
which would be taken up for discussions by a parliamentary select committee
(PSC) and hoped a solution would be worked out in near future.
However, on the issue of
devolution, he argued forcefully that since majority of the Tamils lived
outside the north and the east, there was no need to make this a critical issue
in the negotiations.
Peiris also noted that
as a nation transiting from a society in conflict to a society aiming at peace,
Sri Lanka is gearing up for meeting all these challenges in its own way.
He argued that as a
nation coming out of 30 years of ethnic conflict, Sri Lanka was not expected to
resolve the issue in three-and-half-years since the war against the Tamil Tiger
rebels ended.
However, it had made
substantial progress in the economic and developmental sectors, especially in
building physical infrastructure like roads, highways, railways and
communication networks in the areas affected by the conflict.
Peiris thanked India for
its substantial contribution towards the development of railways in his
country. He invited people from India to visit Sri Lanka and see for themselves
the changes taking place in the war ravaged areas. Development was the key to
resolution of conflict, he argued.
On India-Sri Lanka
relations he held that the two countries were engaged in a whole range of
issues, which made the relationship quite robust, vibrant, "rich and
satisfying".
During the eighth joint
commission meeting, the two countries agreed to cooperate on matters relating
to counter terrorism, food and energy security. He considered people to people
contact and cultural linkages as the bases of a solid foundation for continuing
process of engagement between the two nations.
The minister also dwelt
on the daunting challenges confronting his country as it was making substantial
progress on the economic front. He identified the challenges as economic,
cultural, security-related and political in nature.
Emphasising on the
economic challenges the minister said that the fruits of economic development
should be equally distributed to the urban and the peri-urban sections of the
society and argued that economic development in a country can be sustainable
only when complemented with social equity.
Peiris also stressed
that a nation's progress depended on sound functioning of institutions like
judiciary and legislature. A major problem facing all societies today was how
to reconcile freedom with security, he stated. Way.
