Sinhalese, Tamils divided on peace process

A public opinion survey by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based think-tank, has brought to the fore the deep divisions among the majority and minority communities of Sri Lanka on the ongoing undeclared war in the island nation.

The 27th in the series of such surveys conducted since 2001 shows that 48.5 per cent of the Sinhala community feel that the war can be ended and peace restored in the country only by the government defeating the LTTE.

However, in the other three communities (Tamils - 62.3 per cent, Upcountry Tamils - 96.7 per cent, Muslims - 85.2 per cent) the option chosen was to stop the war and conduct peace negotiations.

However, when asked if they feel that a political settlement is essential to end the conflict, majorities in all four groups (Sinhalese - 35.6 per cent, Tamils - 67.1 per cent, Upcountry Tamils - 40.3 per cent, Muslims - 71.0 per cent) state that a political settlement is essential.

The objective of the survey was to gauge the level of public confidence in the peace process and capture the public mood on the politics in the nation. It covered the Sinhala, Muslim and the Upcountry Tamil communities in the areas outside North and East. A “booster” sample from the Tamil community in the East is also included in the survey, using a non-random sampling technique.

As per the survey, 42.6 per cent of Sinhalese feel that the country is somewhat close to a settlement to the ethnic conflict. The same question, when posed to the other three communities, elicited a different response. Separately, the Human Rights Watch in a statement released here on Monday, said that the “recent downgrading” of Sri Lanka’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) by an international committee highlights the need for independent international monitoring of the human rights situation in the country.

The statement said that recently the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights reduced Sri Lanka’s NHRC to the status of an “observer” because of government encroachment on its independence.

(http://www.hindu.com)