New Approach: The Democratic Path to Peace in Sri Lanka‪.‬

THE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE GOVERNMENT which assumed office in Sri Lanka in 1994 inherited a complex of issues often referred to as "the ethnic conflict," the discord between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities, which respectively comprise 74 percent and 13 percent of the country's population. Earlier administrations sought to solve the conflict through military defeat of the Tamil rebellion. Were military victory alone sufficient to resolve the conflict, the present government could claim some success in restoring peace and civil government to Jaffna, the northern city once the stronghold of the militant Tamil group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But the present government of Sri Lanka has taken the position that only meaningful political and economic change can truly resolve the conflict. The issues underlying the ethnic discord can only be successfully addressed by a comprehensive and feasible constitutional arrangement that provides for power sharing between the central government and peripheral areas. Such an arrangement would devolve responsibility for development-related decisions to the diverse sections of the Sri Lankan nation. In order to follow an approach that recognizes both the military dimension of the conflict and the underlying sources of discontent, the Sri Lankan government must pursue several objectives. It must defeat the LTTE, which alone among Tamil groups has rejected the option of peaceful negotiations preferred by the rest of the country. Second, the government's proposals on the wide devolution of power must be implemented with the consensus of the political parties represented in the parliament and with the approval of voters in a popular referendum. Third, rapid, equitable, and sustainable development initiatives must be pursued, combined with the reconstruction and rehabilitation of social and economic infrastructure in the wartorn areas. A successful conclusion to ethnic strife can only be achieved by a political settlement which has, as its principal aim, the development of a united, peaceful, and prosperous Sri Lankan nation.