People’s alliance is what required for lasting peace, by Dr.M.A.Mohamed Saleem

How to foster lasting peace in this country after three turbulent decades is the topmost discussion point today wherever Sri Lankans meet. There is a strong feeling the silver lining of hope that glimmered on the 18th May 2009, when the source of terrorism received the last bullet, is fading away under the increasing turbulence caused by politicians in anticipation of various elections. Once again, tension and pensiveness are creeping in as the politicians openly declare their intentions in the run up to these elections.

The people of the estuarine divisional area of Mutur with the coastal front on the Trinco bay have persistently sustained immense hardships for many years: death, displacement, loss of property and economic siege under racially-motivated militancy, counter militancy carried out in the name of territorial protection and the destructive tsunami of 2004 were the sources for their suffering. Different communities, particularly the Muslims of the area who had paid a heavy price over three decades of systematic attack and economic blockade took refuge elsewhere and are returning to their villages after these villages were declared safe. They are finding out that their hope of reviving farming and fishing enterprises is short lived as tension is increasing once again under varying political pressures. Obviously, the Mutur residents do not wish to go through another insurgency ordeal, and are exploring ways of preventing future breakdown of amity that has begun to develop between the different communities over the past few months.

Various groups with multi-ethnic membership, identifying them as peace committees, mediation committees, development societies, youth forum, peoples forum, trading community etc are in regular consultation with each other, and on the 7th Nov 2009 all these groups met at the Mutur Divisional Secretariat Auditorium with the blessings of the Divisional Secretary to formulate people action plans towards lasting peace in their neighbourhood in the first instance and also the country at large. I was fortunate to be invited to this meeting, and found that some decisions the participants came up with are ground breaking in many respects. I have therefore taken the liberty to share my perspectives with the rest in this country.

Although participants including religious dignitaries came from the different communities the number of Muslim participants exceeded others at this meeting. With one voice, they laid out the following common principles to guide the debate:-

* Everyone in Mutur desires lasting peace in the area as a primary focus, and it is the responsibility of everyone to desist from any activity that could contribute to a breakdown in the intensifying cordial relationship between the different communities

* All communities to work together, and where common interest policy decisions are at stake there should not be any distinction, discrimination, favouritism on the basis of religion, race, territory etc. Any attempt to cause divisiveness should be shunned and condemned by all.

* Historically, Mutur had all the communities living amicably and it used to be an example for coexistence. This situation changed after 1985, and today the wish of the people of Mutur is to re-establish its pre-1985 environment so that everyone can be contribute towards rebuilding Mutur better than before.

The participants quickly recognized that lingering suspicion and distrust between the different communities as the biggest stumbling block to move forward. They were also concerned that recent events at varying levels of governance and societal inter-phase had not removed their doubts that the country belongs to all and everyone has equal rights and opportunities to pursue life goals without fear of discrimination. Unlike many other meetings, I found the participants did not labour on identifying causes or apportioning blame for the current situation but spent all the time suggesting potential solutions that in essence could contribute to improving trust and confidence among communities for rebuilding the country. Towards this end the following suggestions were unanimously adopted:-

A) Common schools for all: – Separate schools on the basis of language and religion were identified as the fundamental cause for widening communication gap between the different communities. Elders of all communities at this meeting who had the benefit of going through schools of multiple ethnic character were very vocal about the advantage of common schools for all. Exclusive schools to one community should therefore be discontinued although higher student enrolment from a given community living in close proximity to a school cannot be avoided. Pairing of already existing community-based schools for common activities was suggested as an alternative to bring more cross-ethnic student contact. To overcome the problem of some schools being well catered compared to others, a staff exchange programme between paired up schools was also suggested.

Community based schools have existed in the country for many years, and therefore, resistance for adopting common schools should be expected. This is to be overcome by having varying belief instructors to cater for the different groups enrolled in the school. According to the religious dignitaries at the meeting, varying streams of religious instructions should not a problem at any school, given that, the main responsibility for upbringing in a particular faith rests with the parents and the environment outside of the school. If this is accepted as a principle and every faith is given due respect by all there should not be any problem in relaxing even dress codes for children of different faiths attending a common school. A subcommittee consisting of School Principals and an Education Ministry official was delegated to develop a policy document, after wide consultation with teaching staff in the area, for further discussion at the Provincial level.

B) Language barrier: – Inability to communicate freely with different administrative bodies, particularly the law enforcement agency was identified as a major impediment for continuing suspicion between the communities. Although some steps have been taken for government officials to acquire language proficiency a general lack of interest was noted, and thus, a mandatory proficiency requirement for every staff will have to be enforced. The need for a common link language was emphasized, and the need for English proficiency was deemed beneficial not only for communicating with fellow Sri Lankans but also for international dealings.

C) Land issue: – One of the burning issues for continuing suspicion involves land, and the participants submitted that ad hoc and arbitrary decisions are now being enforced for grabbing land in the area to which people of Mutur also claim ownership. Although some land claims have no validity as documentary proofs cannot be established, people’s claims on the basis of customary user rights and loss of documents ascribed to arson, displacement, forcible eviction etc have to be given sympathetic consideration. It appears however that lot goodwill between the communities can be built by finding ways to resolve the land issues. It was therefore recommended that the government should seriously establish land Kachcheries equipped with adequate professional capacity to address issues pertaining to land ownership without political interference.

D) Increasing number of unemployed youth: – In the Mutur area there is a surge of unemployed youth, and the school leavers who fail to secure university admission end up in the streets having nothing to do, and the number of drop outs has increased this year as those youth who earlier had restraints for free movement have also joined the other unemployed youth. Mutur area is neither endowed with adequate vocational (technical) training centers nor public assembling places and that causes a lot of frustration and tension among the youth. This deficiency has to be taken as a priority issue, and efforts will have to be made to improve interaction among youth of different communities by investing on creative programmes. It was felt that the youth should be exposed to carrier guidance and dignity of labour, equipped with required skills and motivated towards self reliance for making good use of the natural resources. Different soil textural conditions for brick making or porcelain wares, crafts to make use of surplus bamboo, bee keeping, animal husbandry and value additions to harvested agricultural products etc were suggested as possible means for usefully engaging youth in the area.

E) Protecting public property: There was unanimous agreement that carefree attitude towards public goods and properties as a major drawback to improve friendship and understanding between different communities. The country has gone through a period of many years during which Sri Lankan government properties were treated with contempt as foreign and out of place. Therefore the participants adopted a slogan – “Public property is our property and we will safeguard it”- , and appointed a committee under the leadership of three religious dignitaries to monitor conduct of the people when it came to public places and properties. The committee proposed to start this exercise at the Mutur General Hospital. Also, a competition is to be organized among the schools in the Mutur area as to the safety and care of Public Properties entrusted to those schools.

Mutur has been subjected to varying trials in past two decades that challenged the core values of the establishment that had celebrated ethnic mix and worked for the understanding among different communities for many generations. Although Mutur today has been weakened and deprived of the natural growth and development the people do not harbour enmity or seek reprisals for all their sufferings. All what they are looking for is to regain the status of friendship and co-existence with other communities and secure a peaceful environment so that they can build back Mutur better. With this in mind the participants at this meeting laid out some recommendations and have decided on some concrete actions within their capacity for implementing them. Some are very radical, for instance, calling for common schools and undertaking responsibility for safeguarding public property. Yet, they are committed to those as the participants believe that their suggestions would contribute to a lasting peace in this country. Even after many years of suffering on account of their ethnicity the people of Mutur are moving ahead with the believe that the country belongs to all, and they also seem encouraged by the repeated assertion of the President of this country that there are no minorities and all are Sri Lankans. This noble objective cannot be translated and put into practice just by forming political alliances which is an exercise to divide people and placing the telescope on the blind eye to view ground realities. Support for the people who are willing to form alliances on their own for respecting each other in co-existence is the need of the hour so that they can look after their immediate localities and contribute in rebuilding this country for all to live in peace. Similar efforts as Mutur initiative has to be encouraged and popularized all over the country but, it is difficult to imagine that those who are pre occupied trading in to forge party alliances with the objective of retaining or capturing power will be attracted by such people’s initiatives. One thing is certain. People of this country are fast realizing that common human values consolidated on respective spiritual base are more forceful, and when the going gets tough they will bring down any artificial barriers to restore sanity and end their suffering. History is replete to demonstrate that, in the end, people’s power is supreme.