The furor over the advisory panel's report to Ban Ki Moon - an opinion

We are back to this saga, which will not go away, as long as this issue is met with completely opposing views within the island. We can always pin point to US hypocrisy and ulterior motives and begin a Western conspiracy bashing harangue as seems to be the natural inclination of the government with a new added twist to ask the people of the country to rise up in support of the government’s stance. I just do not believe the size of the constituency behind the government will make an iota of difference to this unless the Tamil people living in this country are ALSO united in condemnation.

For those who say this is only a Sinhala country, then I cannot have a rational discussion on this subject. For those who believe this is a country of all the races and creeds that live in it, then it is time we act in a UNITED voice and opinion. It is important therefore to address the grievances of the Tamil people, as represented by the TNA, In order to achieve this goal, so that we can have a hopeful and prosperous future for all who live in Sri Lanka. If the TNA is phony then who truly represents the Tamils?

It is so clear that the TNA completely accept the report and the Govt. reject it, polarizing the people yet again. The Govt. dare not label the TNA as unpatriotic as it may provoke a backlash against them, creating a crisis and instability and therefore have pretended that they have not even heard their support, and are perhaps saying to themselves they are still LTTE apologists, and that the true opinion of the Tamil people is not with them.

How can this be resolved? If the Tamil people believe the contents, while both parties to the conflict are equally implicated, only the victor remains to be held accountable. I do not know if the LLRC had evidence of people accusing the security forces of violations, but I would be risking my life if I had actually been a victim, witness or a partaker in any of these allegations. Personally I cannot accept zero collateral damage when human shields are used, so lets just tell the truth and clear the air.

I believe if we are to justify to the world that we can put behind this moment in history and move on, the victims of this conflict need closure, and this has not been addressed satisfactorily and I do not believe the Government is in any rush. I must add that Sri Lanka has the largest number of documented missing persons per capita in the world from all conflicts. This is not a case of any race, it is a case of the tragedy of the country that we have not been able to confront this and obtain closure for the families of the missing.