The period of talking peace and reconciliation is apparently over and the season of talking tough has begun. This seasonal change usually occurs in this country when an election is round the corner.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga having spoken at the world assembly in conciliatory terms about terrorism and the need for eliminating the root causes, has now begun issuing indictments on the LTTE for killing unarmed political party activists and blaming the previous government for being indifferent to this killing spree from the time that government entered into the ceasefire agreement. She vows to take full responsibility for providing maximum security to all citizens unlike, as she says, the former President J.R. Jayewardene who asked the people to look after their own security.
The Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe who is now planning his strategy for executive presidency next year is also talking tough. While promising to elevate Sri Lanka to the level of a country like Japan, as executive president after next year's election, he vows to intensify the party campaign to obtain relief for the people as promised by the UPFA Government.
The party also has decided to reject the government's offer of joint-chairmanship in the proposed National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation stressing the need for the government to first initiate talks with the LTTE on the basis of ISGA proposals. It is a pity that the UNP has not shown its amenability to the popular demand that all responsible parties should first deliberate and come to an understanding about the vital issue of the basis for talks with the LTTE. With its decision to spurn the proposed procedure, the UNP cannot escape the charge that it dances to the tune of the LTTE.
The LTTE's political Wing Leader S.P. Thamilselvan, who earlier had shown some flexibility about their proposals, has also chosen to be tough and rigid. On the eve of his departure abroad, he has insisted that there would not be any change in the ISGA proposals. He has said his mission abroad was to convince the reasonableness of their proposals and to prevail upon the international community to refrain from granting any assistance to Sri Lanka.
Then, the other patriotic groups in the south like the Jathika Hela Urumaya and the Patriotic National Movement, meanwhile, are poised to oppose any attempt to resume talks with the LTTE on the basis of ISGA proposals. The PNM led by Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera and JVP MP, Wimal Weerawansa has threatened to topple the government if it goes against their advice and wishes. While this tough talking goes on, at the receiving end are the people of this country who see no end to their suffering. They do not see the materialization of promises of relief held out to them during elections. Instead, they see the authorities seeking to console them by the offer of better times ahead with the fructification of projects and programmes launched by them. The people expected to see an amicable settlement of the decades long North-East conflict which, they know, has been the root cause of most of the country's woes. While being crushed by high prices of goods and services, they find their safety and security forever are under threat, with underworld and army deserter criminals let loose on society. The suffering that those in refugee camps and others in war-ravaged areas in North and East, undergo could well be imagined.
Although most of this human misery can be alleviated through determined collective effort by those wielding power and authority, yet no such endeavour is being made. What one sees instead, is competitive, contentious and acrimonious rivalry among political parties and groups that are bent on promoting and protecting their partisan and selfish interests.
It is these unhealthy approaches and attitudes that make most politicians talk tough and challenge one another. Although they declare their great compassion for the people and concern for the country's future, it is the achievement of their own ambitious goals and party prospects that they hanker after and assiduously work for. 'Country before party or country before self', are mere shibboleths repeated by them to mislead the people. If they are true to their open declarations, their responsibility at a time of national crisis such as the present, is to submerge all their differences and work with unity to pull the country out of the present parlous situation.
(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2004/10/01/edit.asp)
