By Mario Perera, Kadawata

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There are many words that sprout up and come into vogue in relatively short periods of time. The word ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”ReconciliationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ itself is not in any sense new, just its being minted together with ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”CommissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ for the pleasure of the few. Wars and conflicts have been part and parcel of human history. Just going back to the two World Wars and after, most of such destructive phenomena are directly or indirectly to be laid at the door of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”super powersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, these self appointed moral conscience of humanity. There is no need for an enumeration, for it is something that even the blind see. Yet the Korean wars, the Indo-Pakistan wars, the Vietnam wars, the Irish wars, those of the break away republics of the former USSR, those in Africa and Latin America are all stamped on the collective minds as being such.

Official compliance with what is known as a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Reconciliation CommissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ was best seen after the overthrow of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”apartheidƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ regime of South Africa. Australia tendered an apology through an Act of Parliament to the aborigines whom they treated as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”soul-less chattelsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. They did not find a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Reconciliation CommissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ necessary. The European colonists in America practically annihilated the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”RedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ Indians, but no such apology made and no ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Reconciliation CommissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ apointed to date. Of course we could go on endlessly if we think of the European nations and the colonies; all the massacres of yore, all done in the name of their superior civilization. Just few hundred years ago, the French dragged their nobles in tumbrils or two-wheeled carts, through the streets of Paris in their thousands for public beheading. In France the Algerian War continues to evoke such painful memories, that on commemorative days they still kill each other. What about the Germans and the genocide of the Jews? Or the centuries long English brutalities in Ireland? Even in todayƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s America the blacks are still victims of discrimination. But where are the Reconciliation Commissions sitting on such issues?

As regards this ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Reconciliation CommissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in South Africa, very strangely the last apartheid president Botha flatly refused to go before it; that in spite of the entreaties of Nelson Mandela. The scape goats were forced in to it, but the chief perpetrator, the last head of the criminal regime categorically said that he will ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”answer only before GodƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. No doubt he conceived his God as being white! Hypothetically it is similar to Hitler refusing to go before the Neurenberg Tribunal and being condoned for it!

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Let us look briefly into the system that resulted in this Reconciliation Commission. What was all that about? The apartheid regime was a system of dictatorial and suppressive minority rule. The whites, a very small percentage, were ruling the immensely preponderant black population. Apartheid meant seclusion of human beings at its worst. It was not just as regards living areas and being confined to barracks, but in every field of life, be it official transport, eating houses, places of gathering, or even sports.

Is a reconciliation commission, a sort of secular confessional with white nations providing the absolution the missing condition for healing the wounds of Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s terrorist war? It is not. The thirty year old war had to do with a Tamil ideology entertained even before Independence; namely the aspiration for a Tamil Homeland. After this aspiration failed in Tamil Nadu, a breach-head was created for its establishment in the North-East of Sri Lanka. Mesmerized and hypnotized by this dream the Tamils ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” instigated by South India, the Indian Government and the western powers ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” took their demand to the battle-field, holding the entire nation in bondage, until they were comprehensively wiped out. The vainness of a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”reconciliation commissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is shown by the fact that the TNA, the tigers with whitened stripes are shamelessly on all fours with Ban-kiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s report. Their expressions are obvious being blatant and overt repetitions of what was earlier the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”casus belliƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The T.U.L.F always insisted that their dominance at the polls in the North and East was a mandate for the creation of Tamil Ealam. The TNA mouths the very same phraseology, using the last election results to claim the mandate for ruling the North and the East.

As for such a West imposed ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”ReconciliationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, it has no place in Sri Lanka. Reconciliation in this country is not a matter for a Commission. We have all the mechanisms in our 2500 year old history to solve our problems. In this country unlike the Tutu-land with its rigorous and radical apartheid, people of all ethnic and religious groups live together and engage in mutually beneficial activities (social, commercial and religious) together, on a permanent basis. Wound healing is not a show-piece for the pleasure of those colossuses with feet of clay impregnated with their hypocritical moral superiority. Such healing is an ongoing process, and ongoing it is through an incessant process of human and humane exchanges. There is no need for medical quacks that are these Western powers to open the bandages and peer in as and when they like. It is happening and very effectively so. Yet as long as this ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”traditional homelandƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ aspiration is not wiped out from the Tamil mind, the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”casus belliƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ will always hang over this nation like the sword of Damocles. This is the only condition for permanent peace and not hypocritical ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Reconciliation CommissionsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to please white eyes.

The ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Reconciliation CommissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is yet another instrument of white domination. One other parading with drum beats is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”human rightsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. It was at the onset, immedidately after the World War used to differentiate between the so-called free nations and the totalitarian ones, meaning principally Russia and China. The free world naturally included the colonies. At that time all was well with the best of worlds, with the British monarch snugly seated on his throne, the pope in the Vatican, ruling over space and time, and the colonies skinning themselves to pay their tributes in kind. Then after independence upset this ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”divine orderƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, human rights became a tool of subjugation of the newly independent nations. It was a whip to call nations to order and gather them around the powers concerned. And now this new tool that is the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”reconciliation commissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The criminal perpetrators who divide nations, cause conflicts between nationals and their co-citizens as in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya at this very moment naturally bask in the comforts of self attributed total immunity.

What this country needs is not a reconciliation steered by the white West. Our need is for permanent peace through a national ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”awakeningƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to the latent danger which besets us, which was not laid to rest on the banks of the Nandikadal lagoon. The only reconciliation is through what this nation always upheld with many an explicit mandate to the ruler for its realization: a unitary Sri Lanka, motherland for all, without self carved ethnic enclaves and traditional homelands. Until this issue is definitely resolved, with mono-ethnic enclaves wiped out forever, reconciliation will never be a reality. There will be no peace, only a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”show-pieceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, a dance macabre to please the white axis of evil.