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Factor in Sinhala nationalism: report

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan military on Monday claimed that 10 LTTE cadres were killed in fighting in the north even as an international think-tank has said lasting peace would not be found until Sinhala nationalism and the grievances that give it power are understood and addressed.

In the report, “Sri Lanka: Sinhala Nationalism and the Elusive Southern Consensus,” the International Crisis Group, trans-national NGO engaged in the study of conflicts around the globe, has called a new approach to factor in what is termed as “Sinhala nationalism.”

The report dwells on the theme of nationalism of the country’s largest ethnic community and its relationship to the conflict.

The ICG says recent history shows the Sinhalese are not unalterably opposed to a fair deal for the minority Tamils but competition between their major parties, the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, together with the violence and the intransigence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have led President Rajapaksa to adopt a hardline nationalist approach.

“Until the sources of Sinhalese nationalism are taken more seriously, it will continue to challenge attempts to produce a political settlement.

Although President Rajapaksa states his commitment to a political solution, his decision to rely on hardline Sinhala nationalist parties committed to a strictly unitary state structure instead of considering substantial devolution of powers to the regions has left him with little option other than to try to defeat the LTTE militarily,” it says.

It said the All-Party Representative Committee set up in 2006 by the President is developing constitutional proposals but the limited progress may unravel due to Mr. Rajapaksa’s insistence on the unitary state.

“Moving away from the unitary state is the only viable basis for resolving the conflict politically and opening up a new, broader political agenda for constitutional reform endorsed by Muslim, Tamil and Sinhala parties”, says Alan Keenan, Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst in Colombo.

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