{"id":97910,"date":"2013-07-30T10:59:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T05:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=97910"},"modified":"2013-08-04T00:05:30","modified_gmt":"2013-08-03T18:35:30","slug":"a-hard-hitting-autopsy-of-post-war-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-hard-hitting-autopsy-of-post-war-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"A Hard-Hitting Autopsy Of Post-War Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

By M.R. Narayan Swamy<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

M.R. Narayan Swamy<\/p><\/div>\n

In Sri Lanka, where President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime seems determined to undo key aspects of a 1987 pact with India touching upon the critical area of devolution of power, one would need courage – and deep\u00a0political\u00a0conviction – to write the\u00a0book\u00a0Dayan Jayatilleka<\/a><\/span>\u00a0has written.\u00a0The so-called Tamil nationalists\u00a0might dub him a closet man of the Sri Lankan state for having served it faithfully in his previous capacity as Colombo’s envoy to\u00a0the UN\u00a0in Geneva at the height of the war. But that exposure probably only redoubled his understanding of what is good for Sri Lanka, where the Tamil Tigers’ rout in 2009 hasn’t led, unfortunately, to a comprehensive peace most people would have desired.<\/p>\n

What kind of a political framework is good for Sri Lanka? The debate rages on. There are many shades of opinion across the island nation, across its ethnic and religious divide. Should\u00a0Sri Lanka<\/a><\/span>\u00a0be a Sinhalese\/Buddhist-dominated society\u00a0politically, even if it claims not to be one? Should it not be a land where different religions and ethnic groups enjoy equal rights — and respect one another? Is\u00a0provincial autonomy\u00a0a stepping stone to separation? Can the bloodied ethnic\u00a0war\u00a0of over a quarter century be expected to heal wounds dramatically, now that the Tigers are history? Can those Tamils, who served as the LTTE<\/a><\/span>‘s political arm be trusted to play a role in mainstream Sri Lanka? Can\u00a0the situation\u00a0improve? Will the wounds heal? If\u00a0yes, when?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Book Review: Long War, Cold Peace: Conflict and Crisis in Sri Lanka Author: Dayan Jayatilleka Publisher: Vijitha Yapa Publications, Columbo; 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

A political activist-turned-academic-turned-political scientist, Dayan, as most of us have known him, brings together some of his powerful published writings with fresh candor to answer a string of questions related to the now vanquished\u00a0LTTE, the war it waged, the counter war, and the politics of the Rajapaksa regime<\/a><\/span>. It is important, he says, to learn the lessons of the conflict to prevent a recurrence. Sadly, as a nation, he says, “we have almost ceased to analyse, to think”.<\/p>\n

The good thing about the book is that it does not follow a chronological order to relate the Sri Lanka agony – from 1983<\/a><\/span>, the earlier period, the post-war scenario, the international dimension et al. Dayan is loud and clear. We know where he stands. A Marxist not at home with Sri Lanka’s (fragmented) Left, he laments that his country never had a Congress party or a “political leadership (read Nehru) that was westernized in cultural terms,\u00a0modernist, while not being pro-Western in political terms”.<\/p>\n

Historically, Dayan tells us, this is the best time to effect a political reconciliation between the Sinhalese and Tamils, “for a moderate compromise”. Unlike a section of his compatriots, Dayan underlines the importance of paying heed to Sri Lanka’s\u00a0friends, “local and foreign”. Having won the war, Colombo can still lose the peace, he warns, if it fails to show generosity, flexibility, enlightenment and\u00a0wisdom.<\/p>\n

Having dealt with 193 countries in Geneva, he knows what the world wants: that Sri Lankan Tamils deserve and require equal rights. Dayan is all for a “full (even) if graduated implementation” of the India-backed 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution that would ensure “the fullest possible devolution of powers” to provinces — and to Tamils. “Long War, Cold Peace” could not have come out at a better time. Not everyone will agree with his autopsy. But no one will be able to ignore it. Read it, now!<\/p>\n

*M.R. Narayan Swamy is a long-time Sri Lanka watcher. He can be reached on narayan.swamy@ians.in. This article is appeared on\u00a0The Times of India.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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