The inaugural meeting of the National Advisory
Council for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR) was
held today. The event at the ‘well of the
old Parliament complex’ was attended by religious
leaders, legislators from several political parties
and leaders of civil society.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse who made
the opening remarks thanked and welcomed the distinguished
gathering. The Premier said the Government is fully
committed to a negotiated settlement of the ethnic
crisis. He said the negotiations with the LTTE will
be transparent and will be in consultation with
all democratic political parties and all sections
of the civil society.
President Kumaratunga in her address said the National
Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation is
part of her Government’s policy for peace.
Her Government she said, is committed to do all
that is required to persuade the LTTE to return
to the negotiating table. But added any agreement
to bring peace will be within the framework of a
united Sri Lanka, guaranteeing the sovereignty of
the Nation and the security of all its peoples.
“We need your views not only once talks begin
but even before they can get started”, the
President told the eminent gathering.
Full text of the President’s address;
On this important occasion, I would like to thank
all of you present here for having accepted my invitation
to participate in the National Advisory Council
for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR). We have here
with us the Mahanayake Theros, as well as religious
leaders from all the religious communities and leaders
of important political parties represented in Parliament.
We also have present here the leaders and representatives
of major Non-Governmental Organizations that have
played a role in bringing an end to the armed conflict
and building Peace in Sri Lanka. I wish to welcome
you all and express my gratitude and that of my
Government for the willingness you have demonstrated
to contribute to this great enterprise of collectively
seeking solutions as a Nation to the most serious
challenge posed to our motherland in its post independent
history.
The setting up of the NACPR is yet another step
along the path of my policy and that of my Government
for Peace.
Our policy for the resolution of the conflict has
been made clear and stated often. It has remained
consistent and unwavering.
We continue to hold the view that the resolution
of the problem lies mainly in negotiations between
the Government and the main protagonist, the LTTE.
To this end my Governments, for the past ten years;
have engaged with the LTTE on four occasions (including
the present one) in an attempt to arrive at a negotiated
settlement that would be durable and acceptable
to the majority of our peoples. In this context
we are presently seeking through intense dialogue,
to recommence the stalled negotiations process with
the LTTE.
I wish to state firmly and clearly that the Government
is committed to do all that is required to persuade
the LTTE to return to the negotiating table. But
of course, whatever we undertake as a Government,
will be implemented within the framework of a united
Sri Lanka, guaranteeing the sovereignty of the State
and the security of the Nation and its peoples.
My Government also has a stated policy of conducting
an open and inclusive process, in its endeavours
towards Peace. We believe that no lasting Peace
could be achieved without the involvement of all
major players in this country. By this I mean, the
people and their elected representatives as well
as the religious and civil society leaders and others.
In the course of processes undertaken by my Governments
for the resolution of the conflict, we have at most
times, kept the country informed and obtained their
participation in various ways, such as through the
“Sudu Nelum” movement, as well as through
public briefings by the government. We have now
arrived at the conclusion that a more structured
forum for a wider and consistent consultation with
the people is required.
You are aware of complaints made by leaders of
some communities, such as some of the Opposition
Parties, the Muslims and also religious leaders
that they have not been consulted sufficiently,
during various peace processes undertaken by some
governments.
We have taken all these factors into consideration
when we formulated the concept of a National Advisory
Council, to undertake this much required national
consultative process.
We have envisaged the NACPR on the following
terms:-
• Firstly, as a national
forum for consultation on the Peace Process between
the Government and the citizenry, mainly
through their elected representatives and also through
their religious leaders, as well
as leaders of civil society,
• This Council will
serve as a forum, where the government will keep
the country informed of the progress
of the negotiations process, as well as measures
undertaken for ethnic reconciliation and for
reconstruction and development of the North and
East.
• It will also serve
as a forum for its members to inform the Government
of their views and concerns, with
regard to the Peace Process and also for them to
suggest approaches to move the peace process
forward. It will be a forum for every one of the
varied communities that constitute our Nation, to
have their voices heard on this most crucial issue.
• In addition, interested
groups could be invited to express their views and
concerns to this Council.
• I also hope that
this council would serve as a forum for dialogue
and advice to the government on measures
that need to be adopted for national reconciliation,
unity and ethnic harmony.
It is of great importance that I reiterate at this
point, that the Government continues to posses the
courage and singularity of purpose in executing
its duty and responsibility to resolve the ethnic
conflict that pertains in the country. We shall
not waver in our commitment to seek solutions for
a lasting Peace. We remain honestly, totally and
forever committed to Peace. We are committed to
the hilt to a non-violent, negotiated Peace; we
are committed to end the war and armed conflict.
I must underline that we do not intend to deflect
our responsibilities, as a government, which we
know has to be total, in resolving the problems
faced by the Sri Lankan State, whoever may have
caused these problems. Let it be known clearly that
the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation
is not designed and created for such petty and self
interested purposes.
My government shall continue to engage the LTTE,
who we recognize as the primary actor, in the process
of negotiating an end to the conflict and attaining
Peace.
My Government’s dialogue with the LTTE will
be a separate and priority process.
But as a democratic, people’s government,
we are under obligation to keep ourselves properly
briefed of the views and concerns of all our peoples.
We are aware that many peace efforts have stumbled
due to the non-inclusion of the major players of
our body politic in the process.
We believe that any peace process must be open,
inclusive and obtain the participation of all the
people at various levels. If everyone is not willing
to participate, we must endeavour to obtain at least,
the inclusion of the majority of our peoples. This
is why we believe that a forum or institution such
as the NACPR is essential for that part of the Peace
Process which should include the participation of
the country.
We see the two processes as moving parallel. The
Government will engage the LTTE and continue the
dialogue with it, through the facilitators, while
the Government will separately consult with the
country through the people’s representatives,
within the framework of the NACPR.
The first process is not dependent on the second;
neither is the second on the first.
We, the government, have clearly stated views on
the resolution of the present conflict. My Government
has repeatedly undertaken numerous programmes for
the purpose of implementing these policies. We are
not looking for ways to move away from our commitment,
nor to shove off our responsibilities on the Advisory
Council as a pretext to run away from the challenges
of the sacred responsibility which my Government
undertook to shoulder for better or for worse, when
we once again accepted the reigns of government
in April this year.
Here I believe that it is important that I reiterate
briefly my government’s policy on the resolution
of the Tamil people’s problem.
My governments have attempted since 1994 to adopt
a new strategy and radically different attitudes
in the resolution of this problem.
We studied and attempted to understand the root-causes
of the conflict and the particular form it has taken
in Sri Lanka, in a scientific and objective manner.
We arrived at the view that our conflict was engendered
by the inability of our nation at the moment of
decolonization, 56 years ago, to weld together the
separate sets of aspirations of the three main communities
living in Sri Lanka, into one collective national
vision, in which each community could live freely
and in dignity within its own separate identity,
in order to comprise one whole harmonious and united
whole - a strong, stable and united state.
We recognized that we had to build a new, pluralist,
multi-ethnic and multi-cultural state based on the
cultural, religious and social identity of the majority
Sinhala people who constitute around 75% of our
population, as much as the two main smaller communities,
the Tamils and the Muslims and the tiny groups of
Malays and Burghers, who constitute the rest of
the country.
We believe that the solution lies in seeking alternatives
to the concept of a monolithic, unitary State -
to blend power with principle, to reconcile authority
with freedom. We are looking at a form of power
sharing with a high level of democratic participation
in decision making, law making and governance by
the regional authorities or the devolved units.
We do not believe that the dismemberment of the
Sri Lankan State, demanded by the LTTE through the
employment of terrorist means, would in anyway be
a solution to the Tamil people’s problems.
We are seeking a compromise that would satisfy
the aspirations of all the communities of peoples
living within our State - a compromise that would
be democratic and pluralistic.
We believe that the State must resolve the contradictions
that have arisen between the State and the nationalist
consciousness of the Tamil community. We have to
find means and procedures to accord expression of
this consciousness and to give constitutional, legal
and political authority.
I quote here from a recent speech I made in New
York at the Asia Society; ‘We have and we
shall - do all that is required of a democratic
and responsible government, to ensure that we do
not return to armed conflict.
But here I must reiterate - we believe that “Peace
is more than the simple absence of war”. It
entails active engagement to identify and rectify
the root-causes of conflict’.
On the one hand, we have to address the problems
of socio-economic of all disadvantaged groups in
the South as well as the North and East, marginalization
through an effective programme for poverty alleviation
and development. On the other, we have to formulate,
in discussion with the adversaries on one hand and
the representatives of our polity, new structures
and systems to satisfactorily meet the shortcomings
and problems faced by the Tamil community, whilst
safeguarding the rights and interests of all other
communities.
Whilst we believe that Peace has to be negotiated,
we do not believe in “Peace at any cost”.
We believe that the sovereignty, the territorial
integrity and security of the State must be safeguarded.
We believe in a just Peace, which means not only
the just rights of one community or one group within
that community, but the just rights of all Tamil
people, as much as all other citizens. We believe
in a democratic and pluralist polity that rests
on the bedrock of the Rule of Law and the guarantee
of Human Rights in every corner of the country.
We believe in a Just Peace with Democracy.
In our search for Peace and a lasting resolution
of the conflict, we have chosen the path of a negotiated
settlement because we believe that even the most
unreasonable terrorist group may be persuaded without
the use of coercion or arms.
My friends, we believe in Life, because we believe
in humanity. We believe that even the most ruthless
terrorist group must sometime reassume their humanity.
We abhor terror and all forms of violence in the
pursuit of political aims. We condemn the continuous
killings and violence practiced against their opponents
by the LTTE.
We do not believe that any problem could be resolved
through the destruction of life, the protection
of which in the last count, is the only moral justification
for the existence of all human institutions, including
the State.
We remain firmly committed to our concept of resolving
conflict; based on the assertion that most socio-political
conflicts (whether they be expressed in ethnic,
religious or other forms) have their origins in
some form of injustice and unequal treatment. In
the Sri Lankan case, my government was the first
to publicly accept that the Tamil people have undergone
discriminatory and unjust treatment by consecutive
governments, although we do not accept and cannot
in anyway condone, the extreme responses of one
group claiming to represent the Tamil people. If
the government is to turn them away from this extremism,
we believe that we must begin with finding solutions
to the main causes that generated the conflict.
My government is making every attempt to persuade
the LTTE to return to the negotiating table from
which it withdrew 18 months ago. The LTTE insists
that the government should agree to discuss at first
only their ISGA proposals. The government’s
position has been that we accept the concept of
setting up an Interim Administration in the interim
period, whilst a permanent solution is negotiated
and implemented. But, we require a commitment from
the LTTE that the Interim Administration as well
as the final solution would be based on the Oslo
Declaration signed by the Government of Sri Lanka
and the LTTE which declared that the Federal solution
should be sought within the framework of a united
Sri Lanka. The negotiations with the LTTE as well
as the consultation within the NACPR could work
out the level and extent of devolution and other
details regarding this.
Let it be known clearly and without any doubt that
the Government will continue to do all that is required
of it to make Peace a reality. Through the consultations
which we will engage in at the NACPR we are making
an attempt to include, if not all, at least the
majority of our nation in this great national endeavour.
We are all aware that the majority of our peoples
expect the political parties to work together on
this issue. They wish us to arrive at a consensus
in dealing with peace negotiations and in reaching
a lasting solution to the problem. I am aware that
this view is held by a large majority of people
irrespective of their political affiliations, which
is also a strongly held view of all religious leaders.
The International community has also consistently
expressed this view.
The experience of other countries demonstrates
that conflicts of this nature have been successfully
resolved only when it has been approached as a national
issue, which cuts across the limiting boundaries
of party politics. The South African case is the
best example of this. Also in the UK the main political
parties have agreed to a common approach when dealing
with the Northern Ireland problem.
Since 1994, for ten years, I have made numerous
attempts at bringing together the two major political
parties, the UNP and the Peoples Alliance [PA].
Various proposals for arriving at a consensus and
for working together were suggested to the UNP,
having overcome many obstacles to obtain the agreement
of my Party and our partners in Government. Every
one of my attempts have been rejected or agreed
to and then promises broken. The UNP and the Tamil
National Alliance [TNA] have declined to participate
in this initiative whilst, the Sri Lanka Muslim
Congress [SLMC] and the Jathika Hela Urumaya [JHU]
have requested some clarifications.
The leader of the UNP has informed me that he is
of the view that consultation could take place after
the government begins talks with the LTTE. The process
we begin today is a separate exercise as I have
stated earlier, which is designed for all of us
here to engage in a free dialogue expressing specific
views held by each group represented here, in order
that the government be directly and clearly informed
of your views. This would serve as an essential
and most important input into the planning of the
negotiations process and the policies and strategies
adopted by the government. We, therefore, need your
views not only once talks begin but even before
talks can get started.
We are all aware that the LTTE too, has held a similar
view for a long time. The LTTE leader Mr.Veluupillai
Pirabhakaran has stated on numerous occasions that
without the two major political forces of the South,
arriving at a consensus on the resolution of the
conflict, no effective solution could be implemented
to the Tamil people’s problem. I quote from
his most recent statement in this regard in his
speech in 26th November last year.
“Whenever the party in power attempts to
resolve the Tami issue, the party in opposition
opposes it and derails the effort. This mode of
conflict continues even when the opposition becomes
the ruling party and attempts reconciliation. This
Sinhala political drama with its typical historical
pattern has been staged regularly for the last fifty
years.”
“As a negative consequence of this chess
game, in which the Tamils are used as pawns, several
peace efforts have failed; several peace negotiations
collapsed, several peace agreements torn apart and
several peace pacts became defunct. As such, the
Tamil conflict continues without resolution. The
tragic life of our people continues.”
I would, therefore, like to urge the leader of
the UNP as well as its members to reconsider their
decision and to participate in this great national
endeavour we commence today of arriving at a national
consensus on the country’s one single most
important problem.
Finally, I would like to state in all sincerity
that I truly believe that we are today engaged in
a bold initiative that could lead to the much desired
collective consensus of our Nation, hoped for by
all our peoples. This should have occurred a long
time ago, but even now let us attempt to put national
interest before our own and dialogue honestly based
on what is realistically possible and arrive at
the essential elements to attain a lasting and durable
Peace.
I have just been informed that the Government of
USA has issued a statement two days ago endorsing
our views with regard to the Oslo Declaration and
calling upon the LTTE to end violence against political
opponents and to cease the recruitment of child
soldiers. The US Government has also commended me
for the flexibility shown by the government in our
efforts to arrive at an agreement with the LTTE
to renew discussions.
What I am asking of ourselves may be a tall order.
The stars are far away. Yet, I continue to hope
and believe in this, our Nation’s ability
and strength to reach for those stars if we work
together honestly.
I thank you.