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For peace, Sri Lanka has to change: Canadian leader
Saturday, 31 March 2007 - 9:24 PM SL Time
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New Delhi, March 31 (IANS) A top Canadian politician closely linked to Sri Lanka`s peace process says the ethnic conflict will never end unless Colombo recognises `the legitimate collective and individual rights of the Tamils`.
There can never be a military solution, insisted former Ontario prime minister Bob Rae in an interview, adding that the onus of taking steps to bring peace to the island nation rested on the government and opposition parties.
`Unless the legitimate collective and individual rights of the Tamils are recognised by the government, this problem will never be solved,` the 59-year-old, who was an advisor on federalism to Colombo, told IANS via email. `No military action will achieve the same goal.`
Rae, who has had extensive interactions with representatives of the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), went on: `The burden of taking the necessary steps to peace, reconciliation and restructuring now rest with the government and opposition parties in Colombo.`
Rae`s comments, which reflect the thinking among most global players, comes when the dragging conflict has reached new heights, leaving thousands dead and many thousands displaced since December 2005. A Norway-brokered ceasefire of 2002 is in tatters.
Rae said while there had been studies, hints at proposals and offers to think about possible solutions, `what there has not been is a concrete commitment to change, to recognise the legitimacy of the fundamental quest of the Tamil people for recognition, for equality, and for self government (and) participation in a Sri Lanka prepared to open itself up to ... shared rule. This is what must now happen`.
Rae, elected eight times to Canada`s federal and provincial parliaments before he quit politics in 1996, found fault with the Tigers too, mainly because of the group`s refusal to make peace with Tamils who disagree with it.
Admitting that it was easy to be wise on hindsight, he said the main reason the ceasefire did not lead to peace was that the two main parties never moved beyond the temporary end of the fighting to get to a broader solution.
`A ceasefire between two parties can never be the basis of a full-scale constitutional solution because the latter process by definition requires the participation of a much wider spectrum of society.`
On the government side, he said, the ceasefire agreement itself came under partisan attack, making it impossible to really engage with other parties about the next stage.
`The LTTE`s insistence on being named the `authentic voice` of the Tamil people meant that others were excluded from what had to become a broader civil project for the whole community.`
Rae, who continues to take an active interest in Sri Lankan affairs, said everyone had to share responsibility for what didn`t happen after the ceasefire agreement (CFA) of 2002.
`The international community`s participation in the process was disjointed and unfocussed. The Norwegians should not have played a dual role as mediators and monitors of the ceasefire - these are two completely separate roles. The LTTE should have allowed for other Tamil voices to be heard, and should have stopped violence against other Tamils and child recruitment.
`All the political parties in the Sinhala community should have embraced the need for deep, structural change in the governance arrangements in the country. This has still not happened, and the return to a military approach by the Sri Lankan government has resulted in more loss of life, more deep hardship.`
What was needed, he said, was a concrete plan, accepted by Colombo and others, `that will allow for a ceasefire, a full recognition of the humanitarian disaster at hand, and the need for robust monitoring of the rights situation`.
`A constitutional process must then allow for the participation, without fear and without intimidation, of all sections and views in the country. There is no other way to get to a just result.`
Rae, who Saturday addressed a meeting of the Sri Lankan Democracy Forum in London in memory of Kethis Loganathan, who was assassinated allegedly by the Tamil Tigers, said it was time the world took the crisis in the island more seriously.
`The conflict is dramatically under-reported and unrecognised, and this must change. When one considers the numbers killed, the level of suffering - from malnutrition to homelessness, to child recruitment - it is extraordinary the world has not responded with more vigour and determination.`
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vinivida
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 31 Mar 2007 15:29:01 GMT Report for Abuse
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| No changes at gun-point. Would you do that? |
Thambi
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31 Mar 2007 15:34:26 GMT Report for Abuse
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No changes at gun-point. Would you do that?
man , did you guys pay attention to peaceful protest and Tamil peoples mandate given to Tamil politician before the gun comes into action ? |
vinivida
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31 Mar 2007 15:35:03 GMT Report for Abuse
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Rae, who continues to take an active interest in Sri Lankan affairs, said everyone had to share responsibility for what didn't happen after the ceasefire agreement (CFA) of 2002.
So long as proud Sri Lankans are willing and able to fight the terror.. and Sri Lanka progress continues...
We will live with the present conditions... We must manage the LTTE terrorism... encouraging the terrorists to target more Tamils... making the these experts look STUPID!
Your empty words would of course be mis-interpreted, making some SWETs to rush to yourself and lick your boots!
... and vote for your party.
Smart move, man!
Edited By - vinivida - 31 Mar 2007 15:36:48 GMT |
Thambi
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31 Mar 2007 15:37:40 GMT Report for Abuse
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SIVA
GOSL coolies are stuck in this quagmire?
vini cant hide his face , and this is the typical mindset of sinhala majority . |
Revy
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31 Mar 2007 15:38:11 GMT Report for Abuse
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Vini old boy, giveup your false pride, do it or watch your 'nation' sink further into the abyss beyond the point of no return. Your choice.
We Tamils have nothing to lose, your state has already taken everything from us. |
vinivida
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31 Mar 2007 15:47:59 GMT Report for Abuse
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your 'nation' sink further into the abyss beyond the point of no return
Where has it sunk? It has a terrorism issue (to me it's an opportunity to do better)... folks are killed but let's live with it...
After all LTTE's fake struggled of 30 years managed to reduce the population 'Tamil' Sri Lankans... and we we hold for another 30 years... hmmmm... proud families of SLDF would be teh winners...
We must give free rich-land from NE to soldiers fighting the LTTE.... They (soldiers) and their families must have a stake in this conflict...
Just live with this... like Vini... without grumbling. |
Jinadasa
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 31 Mar 2007 15:48:12 GMT Report for Abuse
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It's very easy for this person from a country not dealing with gangsters to tell that country how it should act.
Why doesn't Rae advocate seperation of Quebec?
And how about giving back Canada to the American Indians that were first there?
It's time we stopped listening to these foreigners who think they know what is best for Sri Lanka.
All this talk about the legitimiate and collective rights of Tamils. Exactly what are you talking about? What rights don't they have right now? Provide exact proof Rae. Don't just harp on the past, blindly fooled by these constant whiners and liars.
Please tell Rae. You must be influenced by the never ending old propaganda that these LTTE criminals harp on. |
Thambi
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31 Mar 2007 15:51:04 GMT Report for Abuse
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Vini
Where has it sunk? It has a terrorism issue (to me it's an opportunity to do better)... folks are killed but let's live with it...
you can say 1000 times , but you have to face the reality , by saying terrorist not going help srilana , its fast sinking into not return state , wake up .
ONE MAN'S TERRORIST IS ANOTHER MAN'S FREEDOM FIGHTER |
Jinadasa
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31 Mar 2007 15:51:37 GMT Report for Abuse
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Rae, why don't you just tell these LTTE criminals to go to Tamil Nadu and break off a piece from there to create their Eelam?
Their Indian Tamils should be more than happy to give some extra land to the criminal Prabhakaran. |
Thambi
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31 Mar 2007 15:54:43 GMT Report for Abuse
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Jinna
why don't you just tell these LTTE criminals to go to Tamil Nadu and break off a piece from there to create their Eelam?
well , the problem wont get resolved , the TAMIL EELAM has to come form North and East of Ceylon , and the remaining land will be called as srilanka . |
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