The vigour with which these issues are asserting themselves in the current initial stirrings of the presidential election campaign is alone proof that their existence just cannot be ignored and glossed over by particularly the hard line defenders of the present power relations among our communities.

The truth that is staring this country in the face is the utter inadequacy of a military solution to the ethnic conflict. The LTTE stands militarily defeated but the explosive issues at the heart of the conflict are remaining unresolved. If a durable peace based on equity is to be established, every community needs to be empowered equally. "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you’. This scriptural injunction needs to be the cornerstone of any contemplated new constitution.

This is the truth that post independence Lankan history discloses through governance issues present day administrations, ruling in coalition with Tamil parties, are compelled to face in the event of their postponing the implementation of a political solution to our conflict based on equity. And coalition governments are here to stay. This is yet another hard reality.

The current political balance of forces in Sri Lanka is such that the UPFA or those party coalitions hoping to form future governments, cannot hope to cobble together even reasonably stable administrations without the support of ethnic parties, whether they be Tamil or Muslim. The same goes for those running for President. In view of the fact that the incumbent President does not enjoy substantial minority backing, he would be compelled willy-nilly, to address core Tamil grievances or risk losing considerable electoral support. Likewise, his challengers would be obliged to frankly broach the issue of a political solution and promise substantial results on this score, if they hope to win minority support.

That some Tamil political parties, including at least two of those which are allied to the government, are reportedly raising these and connected issues with considerable urgency points to the risks involved in the state postponing the formulation and implementation of a peace plan that would meet the just expectations of this country’s minority communities. Considering that power devolution issues are reportedly being broached by the TMVP and even the EPDP, we could expect future indefinite governmental instability if their demands are not met. False promises could, of course, be made, but by doing so governments would be only leaving the causes of ethnic discord unremedied; thereby paving the way for further national instability.

The government, and those who gleefully and vociferously supported the then military action, in a way, could be considered as being foist on their own petard. Expecting some quick political gain the state took the victory ‘celebrations’ over the Tigers to extremes but lost the ‘hearts and minds’ of some sections of the people in the process. After all, what was being ‘celebrated’ was a military victory over a section of the local populace, who, for at least some, represented precious lives. ‘Terror’ needed to be put down but there should not have been any ‘celebrations’, considering that it were Lankan lives which perished.

Nevertheless, to the refined in sensibility, ‘celebrations’ of any kind over a loss of lives, whatever the value that may be placed on these lives, is simply not in the fitness of things.

The government, perhaps, did not calculate the political disadvantages which may have eventually accrued to it by stridently treading the populist path of pandering to the majoritarian leanings of the local body politic. Nor did it foresee, perhaps, the degree to which it would be dependent on Tamil parties for the purposes getting together stable governing coalitions.

Dependence of principal, Southern-based political parties on minority parties for the purpose forming workable governments has been a fact of political life for some time in this country, but this need could be expected to be most intense at the moment, when reliance on those Tamil political parties which opposed the LTTE, for instance, is acute and without whose support effective governance of the North-East is unthinkable. Clearly, the TMVP is one such group.

But such dependence needs to be viewed positively by particularly Southern opinion. Here indeed is a golden opportunity for Sri Lanka to work towards suitable forms of shared governance or an opening to evolve modes of power sharing among communities, if the current ones are found to be inadequate. This is indeed a decisive moment in our post-independence history, which gives its political actors an invaluable opportunity to resolve the country’s conflict by political means.

Currently, those in governance and those who are hoping to govern are compelled to read the proverbial writing on the wall. They should recognize the plural character of Sri Lanka and work towards the formation of an equal polity where everyone would be treated equally, regardless of ethnicity, religion and language, in the main, or risk keeping Sri Lanka mired in political instability. There is simply no escaping the need for a just political solution, underlined by the equality of the Lankan citizenry.

The Tamil parties currently allied with the ruling UPFA, need to capture the moment and bring pressure on the latter or whoever they choose to ally themselves with in the future, to work earnestly towards ending the conflict by political means. This is what is expected of them by their community and this is what they would do to prevent present and future generations from labeling them as ‘opportunists’ and self-aggrandizing time servers.

They cannot deflect their attention from the IDPs, who have now been given the option of leaving their camps by a government which senses that the IDPs are shaping-up as a major election issue. How well is this ‘resettlement’ process being carried out? The Tamil parties allied with the government need to come clean on this and many other issues which would define their suitability as people’s representatives.