Beyond the veil

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s speech during the victory celebrations held on Saturday would have disappointed many due to its refusal to address many of the burning challenges facing reconciliation and instead vamping up the rhetoric to quell “external elements” that are attempting to divide the country.

The strongly-worded delivery liberally revisited the heartaches of the past and recalled that Sri Lanka was known as a nation “scared of a parcel” in memory of the days when people were terrified of bus bombs. True to form, he dwelt extensively on the “humanitarian” aspect of the war and elaborated on the integration accomplished since then, touching upon the rehabilitated former cadres and 4,000 odd Tamil youth who have joined the home guard and dozens more prepared to become part of the Army.

Few fair-minded people would disagree with these momentous achievements, but they would have noted with dismay the President’s steadfast refusal to accept that there are still many steps that need to be taken to foster sustainable reconciliation. A look at his speech would show that the activities at Galle Face were largely to shore-up support for the regime whose largest claim to power is ending the war. In a startling absence of empathy, Rajapaksa did not spend one word remembering the thousands of Tamils who died during the war, nor did he give any quarter to the Tamil diaspora or international community that have been pointing out the shortcomings of the reconciliation steps taken by the Government.

Painting them as “enemies “of the Tamil community, Rajapaksa simply put them in the category of elements that are still trying to divide the nation. In his own words, “Foreign forces and pressures, foreign invasions are not new to us. In the four years since this great humanitarian victory, there were many strategies tried out by these forces to rule our Motherland. These included the Arab Spring, grease demons, the independence of the Judiciary, media freedom and human rights.”

These words alone show that the Rajapaksa regime will continue to turn a deaf ear to concerns on disappearances and abductions, land grabs, the continued militarisation of the north and attacks on Jaffna journalists, their offices and even on Tamil politicians themselves. Couple this with the zero intent by the Government to establish Police and Election Commissions or allow in foreign monitors ahead of the elections means that there is ever-diminishing hope for a free and fair poll in the north come September.

On the same day there were reports of 15 people being arrested for attempting to commemorate former LTTE leader Prabakaran’s death as well as the thousands of civilians who allegedly died during the final phase of the conflict. Last year dozens of university students were arrested when they attempted to honour their dead, resulting in the Government earning harsh criticism for not allowing the Tamil minority to mourn their people. It seems that this remains a lesson that the Government will not learn and doggedly continues to alienate the minority.

Perhaps the most crucial element of all is that the victory celebrations took place while tremors of the 13th Amendment being repealed mutter ominously in the background. A 19th Amendment that takes away land and police powers could put a stranglehold on reconciliation and pave the way for more discontent in a nation that is only unified at the surface. In this context, Rajapaksa’s speech left much out that could cost the country dear.