|
|
|
 |
 |
|||
|
|
(Reproduced from The Hindu, July 24, 2004) THE DECISION BY the Sri Lankan Government to pay compensation to victims of the 1983 anti-Tamil riots deserves to be praised. It is long overdue. Money can never pose as compensation for victims of an atrocity. The riots, which lasted nearly 10 days in July 1983, resulted in enormous loss of life and property, and even more than that, a trauma that will affect generations of Sri Lankan Tamils to come. That much was evident in the testimonies of many of those who gave evidence before the Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence (1981-1984) that President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed in 2001. Such suffering does not carry a price tag. Yet financial reparation may be the best available method by which wrongs of the past can be acknowledged and responded to. The Commission, which submitted its findings to President Kumaratunga in September 2002, held the J.R. Jayewardene government responsible for "both acts of omission and commission in the run up" to the riots. It also blamed the government for "gross negligence in failing to appeal to the people for restraint, peace and calm" during the riots aside from "failing to perform its fundamental obligations to protect the life and property of its citizens, even by recourse to force." One of its recommendations was that "victims, their dependants or heirs [be] compensated as a matter of right and not as a matter of charity." In announcing that it has set aside 72.3 million rupees for payouts to the 937 people who gave evidence to the Commission, Sri Lanka has acknowledged and accepted the state's responsibility in the genocidal pogrom. "Black July", as it is known, was a watershed in the history of Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. It contributed to the rise of Tamil militancy (of which the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is a product) and ruptured relations between Sri Lankan Tamils and the state to an extent that no Government since then has been able to build a bridge to them. Compensation will certainly go some distance in healing the wounds of those who were directly affected by the targeted killing and looting, even if it has taken more than two decades in the coming. Only the cynical will see it as a political game by the Kumaratunga-led Freedom Alliance Government to "fix" the opposition United National Party. Rather, it must be seen as a reiteration by President Kumaratunga of her promise to rectify historical wrongs through a political resolution of a conflict that predates 1983. Through 10 years in office, Ms. Kumaratunga has shown unwavering commitment to devolution along federal lines as the cornerstone of a permanent solution that will fulfil the aspirations of all Sri Lankans. If the two-year-old peace process between the Government and the LTTE shows little signs of progress, it is due to the inflexibility of the latter, with its constant threat of returning to war unless all its demands are met and its policy of assassination and suppression of all democratic expression. The recent suicide bombing in Colombo has demonstrated that the LTTE is quite prepared to fall back on its old strategy of terrorism to put pressure on the Government. The bombing has naturally raised questions about how long the ceasefire will last. Sri Lanka, which now understands more than at any other time in the past two decades that there is no military solution to this problem, must guard against being provoked into a military response. Instead, it must look to winning the hearts and minds of the Tamils. The decision to make financial reparations to the 1983 riot victims is a significant step in the right direction.
|
|
Contact
Information: Send mail to
