Today, as fighting rages in the North and terror is visited upon the South, it isn’t easy for us to reflect on the future of our country. Horrors that we all so dearly wish to avoid literally surround us. Politicians are targeted in suicide attacks, while ordinary people are conscripted to defend those responsible for the bombings who care nothing about the deaths of others as they reject the idea of compromise in favour of prolonging the doomed struggle for Eelam. Nevertheless, we have to keep in mind that there will ultimately be peace, and every step we take in that direction must be valued.

Reconciliation will need time and great patience. A conflict of three decades and more isn’t going to be forgotten overnight, nor should it be. Grievances have to be dealt with, and this will undoubtedly involve some greater participation by minorities in our governance structures.

It is already happening in the Eastern Province. The TMVP has made significant progress in its efforts to reorient the approach of the group and return to the political mainstream. Free elections were held earlier this year, and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan is now working towards the development of the area from his position as Chief Minister. It isn’t perfect, but we are slowly getting there. The TMVP is both committed to and actively engaged in democratic government, and that can only be good for representative politics in the East.

This has to be celebrated, but discussion of the future of community relations cannot only be about this process of empowerment in the regions. Whatever level of devolution is finally agreed with local people, there will always be powers remaining with the central government. Parliament has significant responsibilities and it will continue to be a vital institution.

The appointment of TMVP leader Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan as a Member of Parliament thus gives us another reason to hope for a peaceful future. Disputes over the procedure for including representatives on the national list after an electoral partnership has been dissolved will inevitably continue, but we should focus on the important principle that is driving the move.

Minorities have long been represented at the centre of politics here. The Tamil National Alliance, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Ceylon Workers’ Congress and others all play meaningful roles in the national legislature. Non-sectarian parties, including both the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and United National Party, have significant representation from the minorities too, although far too many of their Tamil members have been killed at the hands of their so-called liberators in recent times. Lakshman Kadirgamar, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and T Maheswaran all died for their identities as, in other circumstances and rather longer ago, did the likes of Appapillai Amirthalingam and so many others who refused to bow down to the LTTE. Tamil and Muslim representation at the centre isn’t something new, but it is nevertheless a major advance for the TMVP to join parliamentary governance, because they can speak in a far more authoritative voice for the Eastern Tamils.

Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan gave up the armed struggle at least in part because of a feeling that Eastern Tamils weren’t getting a fair deal within the LTTE. Amongst a couple of dozen at the top of the LTTE hierarchy, he was the sole leader from the East. Eastern cadres were sent in huge numbers to the frontline - he says that more than 6,000 of his people were killed defending the North. The LTTE discriminated against Eastern Tamils, and Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan saw a better future for his people in breaking away and engaging with the State.

It is therefore somehow fitting that he should now further advance his entry into the democratic mainstream and the transformation of his followers into a non-violent party by coming into the very heart of our existing governance structures. It is essentially common sense. Eastern Tamils ought to have as strong a representation in Parliament as they do in their own areas now. We should view it as a positive move not only for them but for the country as a whole.

The appointment is significant for other reasons too. It sends a message to those in the LTTE who are still engaged in their armed struggle that it is not impossible to give up terrorism and adopt a different way of life. The LTTE needs to understand that it is not too late for them either.

Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan is setting an example, and it is a powerful one. Not only is he undertaking to work in a purely democratic and non-violent manner to improve the lot of his people, but he is showing that it is possible to do so at a level that cannot be dismissed as mere window-dressing. Parliament is the ultimate authority, and he is there.

Amnesty International has stuck its nose into the issue, as usual. It has called for Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan to be prosecuted as a war criminal and urged Parliament to reject his membership in a vote of no confidence. Amnesty International says that to do otherwise would generate a dangerous climate of impunity, for people would interpret this as an open invitation to recruit child soldiers, torture their neighbours and murder police officers. It doesn't sound likely. Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan could probably explain the losses and suffering that he and his colleagues had to undergo in the last few decades that would surely dissuade them and most others from embarking on such adventures in future.

Taking such action could only lead to unravelling of all the good work that has been done so far to normalise life in the East. The TMVP might even decide to take up its guns again, although that seems an unlikely prospect today. Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan was as much a part of the crimes mentioned by Amnesty International as anybody else, and the Eastern Province might therefore lose its Chief Minister. The TMVP should not be deprived of its key leaders at a time when it needs them so desperately to keep its cadres in line while the development process gets underway and other forms of employment are found.

It would certainly result in the end of any possibility of resolving the ongoing conflict with the LTTE through negotiations. Prabhakaran could not be let off those crimes either, for he is ultimately responsible for all that has been done by the LTTE. It is a totalitarian outfit, and cadres follow orders without question. The LTTE must not be told that it has no option but to fight to the end, because that will condemn even more of our people to die and on both sides of the equation. It only shows how little use Amnesty International is to our people today.

Amnesty International should really think of changing its name. No longer does it seem appropriate for people to assume that the organisation is some kind of a global advocate for the concept of pardon and reconciliation. Amnesty looks as if it has gone out of fashion in London. Fight-or-Die Worldwide appears to be the order of the day. It is a shame.

The Government has made it clear that its approach to those who abandon terrorism is going to be conciliatory. Too many people have been involved in this conflict, and a good deal of them from much too young an age, for punishment of even the most appalling of crimes through the regular legal system to be thinkable now. Too many lives are still being lost in the fighting. Our top priority must be to put a stop to terrorism and restore peace, with all other objectives secondary to this. It doesn’t mean that no responsibility will ever be assigned for the crimes that have plagued us in this country for so long, but such accounting will have to contribute to the healing process. It should also take place at a more appropriate time. We cannot forget the past, but we have to put it behind us and concentrate on the future now. Those who are keen to change their ways must be encouraged to do so, and as soon as possible. There has been far too much suffering already.

Communications Division
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process