After toiling for a year through the so-called All Party Representative Committee (APRC), Sri Lanka is currently on the verge of unveiling proposals for a political solution, including constitutional reforms, to address the longstanding 'national question'. It does not look as if the formulations that will be tabled can address the issues in a way that will satisfy much of the country, even as the situation in the north and east remains dire due to the continuing war, coupled with a human-rights and humanitarian crisis.
The APRC's yearlong quest to find a political solution has been anything but smooth. It has lost significant credibility due to President Mahinda Rajapakse's acquiescence to the assertion of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism promoted by several parties, including sections of his own Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Backed by militarist euphoria when the security forces wrested control of the Eastern Province from the LTTE, these political parties are attempting to push through proposals that include the discredited concept of a 'unitary state'. In so doing, they are putting in jeopardy the only political process currently afloat amidst the island's ethnic conflict. Sri Lanka might well be moving into a long phase of protracted war, with little political opening, even as the underlying social, economic and political forces are shifting due to changes in the political economy and positioning of international actors.
The APRC's yearlong quest to find a political solution has been anything but smooth. It has lost significant credibility due to President Mahinda Rajapakse's acquiescence to the assertion of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism promoted by several parties, including sections of his own Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Backed by militarist euphoria when the security forces wrested control of the Eastern Province from the LTTE, these political parties are attempting to push through proposals that include the discredited concept of a 'unitary state'. In so doing, they are putting in jeopardy the only political process currently afloat amidst the island's ethnic conflict. Sri Lanka might well be moving into a long phase of protracted war, with little political opening, even as the underlying social, economic and political forces are shifting due to changes in the political economy and positioning of international actors.
In the face of rejection and a lack of serious engagement by all the major players, any vitality the APRC process continues to exhibit is due to the convergence of the interests of the minority parties, including those comprised of Muslims, upcountry Tamils and the left. The representative of the leftwing Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), Tissa Vitarana, as APRC chairman, is persevering at forging a credible consensus. As Himal goes to press, there is an emerging debate, both within the APRC and in the public sphere, as to whether any APRC proposal that does not outright reject a unitary state could be credible at all.