It was only a week ago that we wrote in these pages of the forebodings of ethnic unrest in the country. In that period of time, our worst fears have come true: violence has erupted in Digana and Teldeniya, leaving two people dead, properties destroyed and a wave of mistrust and suspicion between the Sinhalese and Muslim communities. Now, a state of emergency has been declared. At the time of writing, Police curfews are in place to maintain peace.
Amidst all this, politicians from all sides are indulging in their favourite pastime: trying to score brownie points with the public, peddling their favourite theories about the violence and blaming everyone else but themselves. The previous incidents of violence in Ampara decidedly had sinister undertones of being orchestrated. That is because the basis for the issue that led to the clashes- of Muslim eateries introducing ‘sterilisation pills’ into food consumed by Sinhalese patrons- was medically impossible and therefore, was most certainly the result of someone’s vivid and malicious imagination.
The dispute at Teldeniya was essentially one of road rage which escalated into a full blown communal clash. The big question is, was there someone instigating the violence and the exaggerated response from the majority community, a community that remained calm in the face of constant reports of dozens of soldiers being killed or maimed on a daily basis at the height of the Eelam war? We do not yet know the answer to that question which is now being sought through a government investigation.
Nevertheless, if the events in Ampara and Teldeniya are unrelated, that would amount to a remarkable co-incidence! What we do know however, is that most politicians are taking their favourite positions on the issue only with an eye on the next election, without a care about the long term consequences of their actions. The government has been blaming the opposition- more specifically, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and their parliamentary arm, the Joint Opposition (JO) faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by Mahinda Rajapaksa for fomenting a climate of ethnic discord. Even if they had no hand in the current events that are being played out in the Kandy district, it is no secret that the JO practises a brand of politics that seeks votes by appealing to communal sentiments.
In the first few days of the current conflict, social media was awash with comments from JO and SLPP loyalists seeking to ‘save the nation’ from minority communities. In response, we didn’t hear the JO leadership take a firm stand and ask that the perpetrators of violence be dealt with according to the law.
Instead, we hear the Chairman of the SLPP, the indefatigably pathetic G. L. Peiris asking why the government was having different standards for protestors in the North and protestors in the South! It is not only the opposition that is at fault here, though.
It is an understatement to say that the government has been preoccupied with its political dramas after the local government elections and its failure to get its act together swiftly has contributed in no small measure to the current predicament. A case in point is the Ministry of Law and Order. While the Ministry was taken away from Sagala Ratnayake, instead of identifying a suitable person and entrusting him or her with that responsibility, President Maithripala Sirisena has ‘parked’ the portfolio with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
It goes without saying that the Premier has other onerous responsibilities by virtue of his office and is therefore not the ‘best man for the job’. He himself realizes this which is why he has asked, not once but several times, that Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka be appointed as the Minister for Law and Order.
Unfortunately, those pleas have fallen on deaf ears because the SLFP- even its mainstream faction, not merely the JO group- does not wish to see Fonseka in that position.
The reasoning is obvious and very political: they fear that Field Marshall Fonseka will wield the big stick on corruption and that will hamper their chances of mending fences with the JO camp. Even Fonseka’s harshest critics will concede that had he been Minister at the time the conflicts in Kandy erupted, the outcome may have been different.
Because politicians are putting their own interests and their survival before that of the nation, Kandy is now burning, and all that Field Marshall Fonseka can do is to be a spectator!
On Thursday, Ranjith Madduma Bandara was hurriedly appointed to the portfolio but that will only add insult to the injury, with all due respect to the veteran politician from Moneragala. The impact of the incidents in Kandy is already being felt.
This is not 1983- when those infamous ethnic riots erupted- because global communication networks have grown exponentially since then. Now, smart phones are the norm and anyone with a smart phone is a ‘journalist’ transmitting images and videos instantly, at the touch of a button. In such an advanced world, news does travel fast.
The United States and Britain, through their missions in Colombo, have called for calm and restraint. Those two countries and Australia have already issued travel advisories against Sri Lanka. If the situation in Kandy is not brought under control promptly and the violence escalates, the country’s image will suffer irrevocably.
The greater danger is that the current conflict, presently confined to the Kandy district, could spread to the rest of the country. In the eyes of the rest of the world, Sri Lanka would then become a primitive, barbaric nation once again and the country would hurtle rapidly towards an ethnic war once more.
The next generation will be forced to relive the horrors of such a war, just as much as a generation before it endured the thirty year Eelam war. The relative peace that we now enjoy- won at the cost of thousands of lives- will be lost and those who paid the supreme sacrifice would have done so in vain. This is not a bizarre doomsday scenario.
It is but a short step from the current scenario to one of continual conflict. That is why it has been said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it!