Sri Lankan-Americans representing 25 states of the USA stressed that Sri Lanka’s reconciliation is on track, and the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is bringing the country together.

Nearly 100 Sri-Lankan Americans from throughout the United States briefed the Congress on reconciliation and post-conflict progress in Sri Lanka on Monday (June 13), as part of Sri Lankan-American Day on Capitol Hill.

During the briefing, Rep. Robert Aderholt, co-chair of the Sri Lanka Congressional Caucus, recalling his visit to Sri Lanka following tsunami in 2004 said Sri Lanka is clearly a very dynamic country where a lot has changed for the better.

The session was attended by Aderholt and Rep. Steve Chabot, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South East Asia, Congressional staff members.

Monday’s event was the first-ever Sri Lankan-American Day on Capitol Hill. The large turnout demonstrated the support among the Sri Lankans in America for Sri Lanka’s post-conflict programs, lasting peace and reconciliation efforts.

The Diaspora members told members of Congress that Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission is examining events of the conflict, with a broad mandate to pursue incidents of violation of rights. They argued that an international investigation of the conflict would be a set-back for the post-conflict reconciliation process.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has a number of projects underway in Sri Lanka to aid post-conflict development, and the U.S. has provided de-mining aid to Sri Lanka in its effort to remove an estimated 1.2 million LTTE landmines in the North.

The Congressional meetings gave the Diaspora a chance to raise objections to false allegations against Sri Lanka, including those contained in a resolution entered by a freshman member of the House of Representatives.

The constituents told members of the Congress and their staffs that the defeat of the LTTE meant that rights were restored to all 21 million Sri Lankans who suffered under LTTE terrorism. There has not been a single death due to terrorism since May 2009.

“By ending terrorism in May 2009, Sri Lanka restored a basic human right to all Sri Lankans,” the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States Jaliya Wickramasuriya told the Capitol Hill guests. “That human right is the freedom from fear, one of the four important freedoms that President Roosevelt spoke about in January 1941”.

“All of us are concerned about human rights. But this basic human right is vital to any society”, he further noted.

Since the elimination of the LTTE terrorism, Sri Lanka has experienced a brisk economic growth, with 8.2 percent GDP in 2010. Tourism has boomed with a 50% increase in tourist arrivals in 2010 compared to 2009, and with equally impressive gains in the first quarter of 2011. Unemployment remains low while per capita income is increasing.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has focused extensive redevelopment and reconstruction efforts on areas most affected by the conflict in Northern Sri Lanka. The development work includes renovating roads and bridges, water and irrigation systems, hospitals, clinics and schools, new home construction and a massive effort to remove an estimated 1.2 million LTTE landmines.

Sri Lanka has resettled most of the 300,000 people who were displaced by the fighting. It has also rehabilitated about 1,000 LTTE child soldiers, reuniting them with their families, and it has granted amnesty to more than 11,000 former LTTE combatants. About half of that number have been returned to civil society after they were educated and given vocational training. The rest will be released over the coming months.

A number of other countries have extended aid and expertise to Sri Lanka since the end of the conflict. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank have granted loan facilities to expedite the redevelopment of the conflict-affected Northern Sri Lanka. Six nations and two NGOs are assisting de-mining work.

Sri Lankan Community members who took part in the Capitol Hill meetings said that members of the Congress and their staffs were aware of Sri Lanka’s defeat of terrorism and its reconciliation efforts.

Regrettably, however, some in the Congress were not aware that Sri Lanka has established the LLRC, which has taken public testimony and statements from hundreds of witnesses, they mentioned.

Ambassador Wickramasuriya stated that assistance provided by internal fact-finding efforts such as the initiatives of the LLRC is very crucial in post-conflict reconciliation.

“The Sri Lankan people feel strongly that they must resolve these issues among themselves,” the Ambassador said. “An outside investigation could halt reconciliation.”

The sessions focused on economic and social progress in Sri Lanka two years after it successfully defeated the war against terrorism.

Members of the Sri Lankan Diaspora in the U.S. met with one-fifth of the Congress, and emphasized the need for a broader understanding of Sri Lanka’s decades-long conflict and its post-conflict reconciliation efforts. The Diaspora consisted of Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims and others, and represented various professions.

Sri Lanka-American Day in Congress includes more than 100 meetings to discuss peace, redevelopment and economic progress.