National Peace Council of Sri Lanka

Several political and civil initiatives which could have a crucial bearing on the peace process have recently been launched. The government's pledge to place its constitutional reform proposals before Parliament was one of these, though it now appears to have got delayed. The effort undertaken by the business leaders to obtain a bipartisan consensus on the devolution proposals prior to taking them to the LTTE is another important initiative.

These official and semi-official initiatives are being complemented by major independent civic initiatives in late August, such as the peace conference held at the BMICH, the 500,000 signatures for peace campaign and the peace meditation involving 100,000 at the Vihara Maha Devi Park.

At the present time, however, it would not appear that a quick breakthrough to peace is realistic. The National Peace Council is of the opinion that expectations of peace being around the corner need to be balanced by a sober assessment of the needs of a peace process as a stage by stage endeavour.

Though it is a crucial first step, a People's Alliance - United National Party (PA-UNP) bipartisan consensus alone will not suffice to bring peace. Instead, confidence building between the conflicting parties and mutual respect, which will lay the foundation for a successful peace process, should be the primary objectives of the peace process at this time.