Though Pakistan and Afghanistan still continue to be embroiled in religious and ethnic conflict, the rest of South Asia appears keen to check and go beyond such tendencies.
Acknowledging the fact that military victory over the LTTE is not the final solution, Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised to restore the rights and dignity of the Tamils through a political solution.
The Panel has recommended genuine investigations into the alleged violations of the international humanitarian and human rights law committed by the GOSL and the LTTE.
Infrastructure development projects in the North and the Eastern province is undoubtedly important to banish poverty but cannot be a “major part of political solution” as pronounced by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Karuna’s revelation that Norway provided funds for the LTTE to purchase lethal weapons has revived the focus on that country’s role in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict.
The Sri Lankan government seems to be in a desperate hurry to bring about all the necessary revisions in the constitution to strengthen the Executive Presidency without any provision of checks and balances. Sri Lanka, under Rajapaksa, is headed towards nepotism and dictatorship as the 18th amendment suggests.
On April 12, 2010 the majority of citizens of the island of Sri Lanka's two main linguistic communities celebrated the Sinhala and Tamil new year and the categorical end of war and terrorism with considerable optimism, despite the lack of a clear political solution to the ‘ethnic conflict’. The new year celebrations, the first since the end of the state's 30 year war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were in the wake of recently concluded parliamentary elections that returned the ruling party to power.
The outcome of the April general election makes clear that Sri Lanka would be evolving its own model of post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation to address the causes of conflict.
