Dear friends,
We are reproducing the statement of an independent group who is calling for a discussion on “Saving Sri Lanka from the brink of disaster”.
In the paper this group sets the present conflict in Sri Lanka within the context of the collapse of the state and calls for a debate on this issue. The Asian Human Rights Commission in the past has made several calls also for a study of the present conflicts in Sri Lanka within the context of the collapse of the rule of law and the state institutions, kindly see the following: SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka faces a problem far greater than the escalation of violence – April 26, 2006 – AS-082-2006 – and [AHRC Paper] Sri Lanka: Institutional reform: An alternative approach to the resolution of Sri Lanka’s continuing anarchy – January 13, 2006 – AP001-2006
Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong
A Forwarded Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
SRI LANKA: Saving Sri Lanka from Brink of Disaster
The Political Parties (the Government or the Opposition) do not have the necessary vision to comprehend the depth of the crisis that the State of Sri Lanka is facing and to overcome or control it.
Sri Lanka has been declared a failed state. That observation has led to much controversy.
The state of Sri Lanka has not been able to preserve its exclusive right to have and maintain armed forces, the right to defend the territorial boundaries, to protect national unity and to ensure law and order, while protecting the human rights of the citizens.
When compared with the conditions that had prevailed earlier, Sri Lanka has not been able to effectively provide the citizens with the fundamental services (like education, health, Public transport energy) which a state must provide uninterruptedly.
The legislature of the state of Sri Lanka lacks debate and has become something like a rubber stamp. The system of institutions that exists for the purpose of ensuring justice to the citizens has come to a State where it is unable to do so. The state bureaucracy is inefficient and is rotten with corruption.
What the experience with unsuccessful reforms down to the 17th amendment shows is the stat is in such a condition that it requires a total transformation rather than a reform.
Whilst the State of Sri Lanka is in absolute crisis, the LTTE which may be considered the opposite number of the Sri Lankan state too, is in complete crisis.
Although the principal objective of the LTTE is to create a separate state, it does not have the capability to create such a separate state. The LTTE and the stat of Sir Lanka are also unable to combine without their changing themselves. The state of Sri Lanka which has become a failed state is also unable to provide and alternative to that choice.
Without overcoming the crisis that exist in and these states, it will not be possible for Sri Lanka to move even one step forward. If the political parties do not have the vision required to overcome this situation, it must at least be introduced to them from outside. Do the knowledgeable and active persons of the civil society have that capability?
Will it be possible for us to prepare a road map for it similar to the 17th amendment and to compel all the parties represented in the parliament to get together and implement it?
We expect to summon a group of selected knowledgeable persons and to discuss this profound subject. The list of invitees includes your name too. The discussions are expected to be held at Round Table Auditorium Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute, 114, Wijerama Mawatha Colombo -07. on May 27th 2006 the discussion is to start at 4.30.a.m and to end at 4.30 p.m.if you can note down briefly ( Limited to one page) your ideas on the subject and send them to us we shall be able to make them available to the others.
A.C. Visvaligam ( Dr)
Darmasiri Bandaranayake
Elmore Perera
Frederica Janz
Jayantha Senaviratne ( Dr)
Lucky Taldenia
Mohmad Saleem (Dr)
Nimalka Fernando
Rohan Samarajeewa (Dr)
Sunanda Deshapriya
Shanthini Satchittanandan
Waruna Karunatilake
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