Sri Lanka: Missed opportunities for reconciliation and healing

Jehan Perera in Colombo

The end of the three decades old war that pitted the government against the Tamil militant movements and divided the population created a reasonable expectation that Sri Lanka would be able to reach reconciliation and healing that would pave the way for rapid economic progress. But unexpectedly the country appears to be getting more divided and polarised than ever before. The lines of ethnic division that existed are now being supplemented by lines of political division as political conflict escalates. A situation that is reminiscent of the decade of the 1980s and early 1990s is now threatening to re-emerge. The crisis may not leave any institution unscarred, with not even the Buddhist clergy being untouched.
   Conflicts are inevitable in any society. This is because people have varied interests and requirements that often clash with one another. One important method of conflict resolution in a functioning democracy is elections. Well established democracies, such as the United States, have conventions of their own to deal with divisive political issues, and to heal the wounds of the election campaign thereafter. The victorious side at the elections is generally entitled to have their views prevail. Those who lose accept the verdict of the polls. One of the most bitterly divisive elections in recent US history was the one that saw President Barrack Obama win. Both his victory speech and the concession speech of his defeated opponent Senator John McCain were designed to heal the wounds of the election campaign.
   
   Growing crisis
   Unfortunately, the political crisis after the Presidential election in Sri Lanka continues to grow with no sign of subsiding. The opposition led by the defeated presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka has fielded a legal challenge to the verdict of the Presidential election by means of a petition to the Supreme Court. Although President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been able to claim a handsome 58 percent majority at the election, neither he nor his government appear interested in being magnanimous to their defeated opponent. This may be due to the campaign amongst the opposition parties to cast doubt upon the integrity of those elections, which no independent election monitoring organization called free and fair. Magnanimity requires confidence in one's victory.
   It is not only political activists at the national level who are feeling threatened by the latent violence in the political environment. The government's apparent unwillingness to soften its approach to General Fonseka who continues to be incarcerated in solitary confinement is a frightening example to other dissenters, including those far from the national scene and living amongst grassroots communities.
   Not even the protests of religious leaders, including the highest ranking Buddhist and other prelates, has persuaded the government to relent with regard to the prosecution of the retired General. The fact that the Buddhist prelates felt constrained to summon a meeting of Buddhist monks that they later postponed on the grounds of security is an indication of the growth in the crisis.
   Sri Lanka has now lost the second opportunity it had for healing the wounds of conflict, both ethnic and party political. The first opportunity came more than 8 months ago, in May of 2009, with the defeat of the LTTE. This was an opportunity for the government to have swiftly reduced its security measures which had mainly been targeted on Tamils and to show concern for those who had been the worst victims of the war in the battle zones. However, what happened was the incarceration of 300,000 displaced persons in government welfare centres from which they were not permitted to move out of, even though families had been broken up and some were in different camps without the knowledge of the others. The bitterness amongst the larger Tamil community was seen in the result of the Presidential election that saw the ethnic minority areas of the North and East vote against President Rajapaksa.
   The arrest of General Fonseka's daughter's mother-in-law and the abortive police raid on the JVP head office is indicative of the determination of the government to build its case against its party political foes, whom it has made the focus of a vast conspiracy against the government. The charge of attempted coup against the government appears to be shifting to other areas, including those of nepotism and corruption. The government might succeed in convincing the majority of people on the basis of these allegations to vote for it at the forthcoming General elections. But the problems that divide the country will not be solved. The whisperings and misgivings amongst dissenting sections of the general population about the actions of the government will continue to grow although they are not publicly voiced at this time due to fear of those who are above the law. The government's moral stature will also continuously be diminished when, on the contrary, it needs to be increased to solve the problems of the people.

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Speculations galore as Shaukat Tarin resigns

Jonaid Iqbal

Shaukat Tarin has quit as the Finance Minister of Pakistan. However, he has been asked to stay until (Feb. 28) an appointee takes his place as the Finance Minister, the fourth since the government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
   An official announcement has confirmed the resignation of Shaukat Tarin from this most difficult post.
   The announce-ment had to come, because at Raiwind, Nawaz Sharif's home, where PM Gilani went for a meeting with the former, he inadvertently let slip a comment—hamare wazir ja rahe hain.(Our Finance Minister is going)
   A mike was on at the joint press conference of the two leaders (Gilani and Nawaz Sharif) Tuesday, and the media caught the conversation between the two leaders and published in front page news.
   Only four days ago, Shaukat Tarin had denied rumours about his resignation. However, after months of confusing signals, the government finally confirmed Shaukat Tarin's resignation and its acceptance by the Prime Minister, after the Finance Minister called on him Tuesday.
   It is also learnt that Shaukat Tarin also sent a letter to President Asif Zardari resigning from his seat in the Pakistan Senate as well.
   Tarin said he had resigned on a matter of principle. He is the head of Silk Bank that is now going financially low and he wants to raise money for it. The World Bank as well as the Asian Development Bank had come up with an offer of help, and advised him to stay. But he said it would not be proper for him to seek help for his bank while in office. He told the media, "I have resigned today as a matter of principle. I have to raise equity from the market for the Silk Bank and I could not do that while working as finance minister, because of a clear conflict of interests." It was also learnt that Shaukat Tarin even rejected a rather unusual offer of US diplomat Richard Holbrooke to arrange funds for his Silk Bank, so that he could continue as the finance minister of Pakistan.
   However, there were rumours that he had differences with the way rental power projects had been floated as panacea to power outages, as well as on the issue of governance.
   Mr Tarin was able to secure a $11.2 billion bailout package from the IMF when Pakistan was almost on the verge of defaulting on repayment of foreign loans.
   The post would be taken either by Makhdoom Shahaduddin, present Health Minister (and former state minister for finance), who the PM favoured, or by Nasim Beg.
   However, the name of Nasim Beg, an honest and on-the-go executive of Al Habib Group, is also mentioned as a successor.
   There are speculations that probably Mr Makhdoom would succeed Tarin, and Nasim Beg would become an adviser; nonetheless, Beg would remain the de facto finance chief.

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