UNITED WE STAND - EDITORIAL

23 October 2015 06:30 pm - 0 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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In what was perhaps one of the greatest acts of unity since independence, the leaders of 21 political parties on Wednesday had a friendly two hour dialogue with President Maithripala Sirisena to work out a consensus on the Geneva resolution.

For more than a decade, the All-Party Representatives Committee meetings have been held but the United National Party and the main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance did not attend. Former Minister and LSSP leader Tissa Vitharana did a good job with several reports and recommendations being made but there was little progress. With the silent people’s revolution of January 8 this year and the election of a stable National Government on August 17, the culture of politics, perceptions, attitude and approaches have changed. President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have pledged to work towards consensus and consultative politics which will bring unity in diversity. They are repeatedly appealing for inter-racial, inter-religious and inter-cultural unity where diversity and plurality are not only protected and respected but also celebrated.

One of the landmark achievements of this new country-first policy was Wednesday’s meeting at the Presidential Secretariat, amid a two-day parliamentary debate on the Geneva issue. In the keynote opening address, President Sirisena -- again touching the dimensions of statesmanship -- said the National Government wish to come to a consensus among all parties on how Sri Lanka should respond to the recommendations made in the September 29 Geneva resolutions. He pledged the Government was firm on its stand that the proposed mechanism to take up the Geneva resolution issues would be within the provisions of Sri Lanka’s Constitution. The President said he hoped Sri Lanka would unite in facing the Geneva issue and matters relating to a just political solution to the ethnic conflict which has plagued Sri Lanka since independence in 1948. He said Sri Lanka was now seen by the United Nations and the international community as a sovereign democratic nation that respected human rights, truth and justice. Sri Lanka needs to enhance this new image and he requested party leaders to send him within two weeks, proposals for a solution to these issues.

The President pointed out that because of the revival of the non-aligned policies by the new National Government it was now on friendly terms with all countries ranging from the United States and the European Union to India, China and Russia. He said because of this new relationship with all countries, the 2015 United Nations Human Rights Council’s resolutions was much milder and more favourable to Sri Lanka than the resolutions moved in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The President vowed he would never betray the country or the security forces and the mechanism to be set up after consultations with all the parties would be essentially truth-seeking and acceptable to Sri Lanka’s people and the international community.

Significantly TNA parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan pledged that his party was seeking a peaceful political solution within the framework of a united and undivided Sri Lanka. He lamented that since Independence, the two major parties had to a large extent played football with the ethnic issue and this divisive party politics had created the LTTE and the Eelam lobby. The former Rajapaksa-regime has been widely accused of playing the racist card in a subtle way to face the national and international post-war crises. Thankfully SLFP spokesmen told a news conference yesterday that the time had come for all parties to put the country first and stand together against racism. Spokesmen Dilan Perera and Fiszer Musthapha said that due to the lack of good governance in the country over the past few years, several countries had distanced themselves from Sri Lanka.

With President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe rising beyond party interest or colours to build a new Sri Lanka, we hope all moderate parties would work together to bring about a lasting peace, sustainable development and social justice.

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UNITED WE STAND - EDITORIAL

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