Minister Ganesan says he was happy for progress made towards reconciliation

Minister of National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages Mano Ganesan said he was happy with the progress towards reconciliation made in the last two years though many gaps still remain to be filled.

“The war ended in 2009, but the government at the time did not make use of the golden opportunity that opened up after the war to seek reconciliation. It was only on January 8, 2015, that we took steps towards reconciliation,” he said.

The minister who recently together with the President who is also the Minister of Reconciliation had the National Policy on Reconciliation and Co-existence approved by the Cabinet, said he believed that they had come far during the last two years.

“The journey towards reconciliation and co-existence are like two parallel tracks on a railway line. On the one hand, we need to deal with humanitarian issues such as resettlement and rehabilitation, while on the other hand we need to have a political solution which is linked to the new Constitution, language and other cultural rights,” the Minister explained.

The incumbent government took steps to release a portion of the military held private land back to the people, released almost half of the political prisoners who were held in custody and passed the Act for Office of Missing Persons to investigate into the whereabouts of those missing, said Ganesan, while in the political arena, he noted that the Steering Committee had developed a draft Constitution and the draft would be finalized by the end of this month, consisting of three segments: unanimous, majority and minority viewpoints. “This would be submitted to the Constitutional Assembly and from there, we will come up with a new Constitution which would be agreeable to all,” he said.

Amidst such achievements however, the Minister is acutely aware of the shortcomings in their policies.

The OMP is yet to be set up and the Police this year too sought a Court order to prevent those in the North commemorating their dead.

“We have many regrets and as the Minister of National Co-existence, I regret the Police action to prevent those in the North from commemorating their dead. Nobody is commemorating the LTTE, which was a terrorist outfit, but these people have the right to remember their dead, a large number of Sri Lankans died due to the war and they have to be remembered,” he said.

“The JVP and FSP are allowed to commemorate their dead cadres. These are people who took up arms against the State, so you cannot have one law for the South and another for the North,” he added.

On Wednesday morning, the General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena, Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera broke into the Minister’s office to ‘discuss improving relations among the different communities.”

“Gnanasara Thera broke into my office with much noise, but I conducted myself with much dignity, according to the teachings of Lord Buddha,” said Minister Ganesan and observed that such incidents on the ground hampered reconciliation.

“They are dismissing the concept of diversity, they are trying to impress upon us that we are second and third class citizens of this country and if this is reconciliation, we will never agree to it.This country belongs to all; we have three languages, four religions and 19 registered ethnic groups. Diversity is our strength and Gnanasara Thera cannot dismiss that,” Ganesan said. 

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