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| Lanka needs to take additional steps to win lasting peace: US |
| Lalit K Jha/ PTI / Washington Jun 26, 2009, 10:19 IST |
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The Rajapaksa Government needs to take additional steps to win lasting peace in Sri Lanka following the recent defeat of the LTTE, ending nearly three decades of civil war in the country, a top Obama Administration official has said.
The Sri Lankans achieved an important victory by defeating the LTTE in the north. As a result of that, the LTTE no longer controls any territory whatsoever in Sri Lanka, which is an important step forward, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing.
"Now Sri Lanka has to take additional steps to really win the peace, and to ensure a lasting peace, to ensure reconciliation," said Blake, who till recently was the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka.
"So we are really focused on two different parts of that: First, is the rapid resettlement of the almost 300,000 internally displaced persons who are in the camps in and around Vavuniya; and then secondly, to encourage the government to undertake a real political reconciliation programme," Blake said.
The reconciliation programme, he said, would have several elements. "First, to undertake local elections and provincial council elections so that there can be an elected government in the north for the people of the northern region. They haven't had elected government for the entire time of the LTTE rule," he said.
"But, more broadly, to look at other ways to share power with the Tamils and with other minority communities. And that would include things like implementing the 13th amendment — which is already in the Sri Lankan constitution, which provides for devolution of power to these provincial councils; but to undertake new steps to ensure that they have real power, because the 13th amendment hasn't really been implemented up to date. So, there are additional steps that are needed there," Blake said.
More broadly, he said, there has been an effort underway for many years now under what is called the All Parties Representative Committee (APRC), which has been looking at various possible constitutional amendments, to share power.
"That process is near its conclusion now and we have encouraged the Sri Lankan government to finish that process — to achieve a consensus among the parties about what are the steps that they should do, and undertake to provide for additional constitutional reforms," Blake said.
He said the Sri Lankan President, for example, has been talking about creating an Upper House of Parliament that would be comprised of representatives of the various provincial councils. "That, again, would be a way to further share power," he said.
"I think all of these are things that should be undertaken, and if they are, that those will help to really achieve political reconciliation," Blake said.
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