In search of a better future for children
It is impossible to imagine that right thinking parents would want this to be the climate for their children to absorb, for the next few years.
We need civic leadership which responds to this national need. A leadership which believes that the children of today, is our tomorrow. Investing in our children is investing in our future and cannot go wrong. A shortfall in those investments, can only bring deficits to peace and development to the future Sri Lanka.
The fathers and mothers have to defy this tide and beat death, for the sake of tomorrow.
A tomorrow, where the children of today, have a chance to heal from the scars of violence, where communities are given a chance to see each other humanely and each citizen is equal and second to none.
By J. Nikhil Mustaffa
A boy, born in 1994, was heard asking his father, whether, war had broken out.
When he was born, Chandrika had been elected and curfew had been declared. Since then his life had run parallel to the modern day history of the conflict in the country.
When he was asleep, the phone had rung, with a friend inquiring why the oil tanks were on fire, from his father, who had indicated his surprise at this sudden announcement in the early hours of one morning.
As he passed Town Hall, he could see debris and shambles resulting from stampeding crowds escaping from the scene of the attempt on CBK, the night before. It was said that CBK, on finding herself being driven to Temple Trees, had ordered to be driven to hospital, by her bodyguards!
Passing the overhead bridge in Maradana, he identified the location of the Maradana bomb.
When General Kulatunge died, the boy again inquired what had happened from his father.
This boy, like many of his generation, constitutes the future Sri Lanka, 15-years from now. Their lives, at present, have no normalcy. A recent report from the A9, speaks of large crowds, some carrying infants, heading for a day’s civil defense training.
Conscription has reared its head again, with Karuna, in his new incarnation, being accused of doing what he did, before he broke away. One has to see the age of customary cadre, girls wearing their pyjama type uniform, to understand, with sadness, the lost childhood of many, who have directly borne the brunt of the fallout of conflict.
During the last 11 years, the country has witnessed the arrival and departure of many great friends of the country.
Mariana Todorova, a pugnacious woman with a consciousness, who was head of the World Bank, who believed in the 3R Framework.
She could not believe the state of Jaffna, which, in her mind, was 20 years behind the rest of the country, literally in darkness, in which, cars ran with vegetable oil, children studied by lamps and candle.
Her successor, Peter Harrold, leaves our shores after three plus years of committed service. One would find him sitting, very often, at Odel’s on weekends, in more or less the same seating area. Reportedly, one of the brightest amongst managers in the bank. Brian Smith, a simple man, who would be as comfortable, walking along Duplication Road, as he was reporting the facts as he saw it, passionately, to his colleagues. His job was to ensure that the ADB programmes were conflict sensitive. He was so honest. News of his departure genuinely moved many of his colleagues.
A small made man, looked upon as a brave friend of the country.
Bernadino Ragazonni, the Swiss Ambassador, leaving for Indonesia. He was slim, chainsmoked and worked hard. He was slightly rounder, had stopped smoking, worked Sundays and was honest in conveying perspectives based on principles. He leaves us this week. He, probably, did the most for his country, than anyone before him, as he did for us. Jan Hueskan, at the Dutch mission, preceded some years back by Peter Kuiperus, who worked with a keen eye for local sentiments, genuinely believing the right of Sri Lankans to decide what was best for themselves. They all stood in unison, in supporting peace, last year at the development forum in Kandy.
In the world of the international community, some have a jolly good time. Reports of distress, leisurely life, endless meetings, lots of coffee and wine, not much more or serious work, as has been highlighted.
If one was sitting in Delhi, they probably see a trade wind for India, opportunities for development through international cooperation and less time for de-stabilising neighbours, unlike in the past, the India of today, may have a veto over full blown war resuming in the island.
For those who are young today, it is a right to be freed of war. Recent attacks have put paid to chances for the symbols to recede.
A recent analysis of why the LTTE has little faith in any realistic solutions says, “the CFA only froze the war.”
Both armed capabilities remained ready for the resumption of hostilities. There is a slow effort to turn majority Tamil areas into minority areas in the East, if not, have them under control of the military. They started a struggle which, must produce dividends. One could sit through a peace process and find five years hence, that it has militarily weakened and taken away the resolve to fight.
To transform, there has to be tangible gains put on the table, which gives a decent solution, with measures of devolved powers. The current political configuration does not lend itself to such a scenario. The cynic may well argue, the LTTE turned away a possible Ranil victory at the last Presidential poll, which would have given reasonable dividends in fair time.
Others would say, they were never interested in resolving peacefully.
The new British High Commissioner has, reportedly, requested all parties to take a leaf from South Africa and Northern Ireland, to walk to peace. Mandela was a warrior, who, through his enforced incarceration in Robin Island, survived to lead a new nation.
His time away, may have tempered his instincts and given him a broader vision of nation building. Primordial instincts of supremacy cannot be the overriding consideration, in governing a multi ethnic country.
Even with the LTTE hot on his heels, a President has to be above and beyond the conflict, to find accommodation, solutions. It is the reality of reconciling competing nationalist demands in an island such as ours.
Lee Kuan Yew, in a passage a of a book released, remembers Ceylon as having a sterling reserve, two universities, educated talent in substantial numbers, but laments the effect of one man, one vote system, established majority domination, exit of English, quotas to universities and the advent of fanatical Tigers.
He says, we failed because of weak or wrong leadership.
The boy born in 1994 continues to grow.
So do other young children across Sri Lanka. For those in the South, the symbols and sounds of war continue to pursue them.
For those living in the theatre of conflict, normalcy is not a luxury.
We continue, to collectively, deny them that right.
We are watching the further division of this nation. What was available as options for development, continue to be dissipated or, do not have the environment required, to effectively take root. This is fuel for reasons to justify war! Denial of development, absence of normalcy, return of flight, direct impact on civilians.
This is the tale the Co- Chairs were confronted with, when they met last in Tokyo.
Trust and acts of good faith between the Government and the LTTE, hardly exist.
It would seem that international actors need to play the role of peace keepers and peace builders until, there is a sufficient tail wind to propel the country on a steady, unwavering journey to peace. In private moments, all sides seek an honourable end to conflict and war.
Seeing body parts of the mutilated, civilians being targeted, places of worship being desecrated, people giving up everything they had, to run for safety through uncertain and hazardous seas, are all symptomatic of the climate of a slide to war.
It is impossible to imagine that right thinking parents would want this to be the climate for their children to absorb, for the next few years.
We need civic leadership which responds to this national need.
A leadership which believes that the children of today, is our tomorrow. Investing in our children is investing in our future and cannot go wrong. A shortfall in those investments, can only bring deficits to peace and development to the future Sri Lanka.
When the father of the boy born 1994, was only sixteen, he heard his friends discussing the perceived unnatural advantages enjoyed by Tamils.
The stereotyping had borne fruit. His father has seen what the effects are of the stereotyping. A murderous, brutal environment for his son.
The fathers and mothers have to defy this tide and beat death, for the sake of tomorrow.
A tomorrow, where the children of today, have a chance to heal from the scars of violence, where communities are given a chance to see each other humanely and each citizen is equal and second to none.
