groundviews » Poll: How do you think we can end the war and attain peace in Sri Lanka?

Poll: How do you think we can end the war and attain peace in Sri Lanka?

November 24, 2007 at 10:21 pm · Categories: Districts, English, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by groundviews

Poll closes on 31st December 2007.

2,028 have read this this article so far. You may also find these articles interesting:

Groundviews Poll: Compared to the situation a year ago, how close do you think Sri Lanka is, at present, in approaching a permanent settlement to the ethnic conflict? Take our poll here or by clicking on the heading Poll closes 31st January 2008. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.groundviews.org%2F2007%2F11%2F24%2Fpoll-how-do-you-think-we-can-end-the-war-and-attain-peace-in-sri-lanka%2F'; addthis_title = 'Poll%3A+How+do+you+think+we+can+end+the+war+and+attain+peace+in+Sri+Lanka%3F'; addthis_pub = 'yajitha'; ... groundviews, January 16, 2008
Poll results: How do you think we can end the war and attain peace in Sri Lanka? The final results of the rough-and-ready Groundviews poll are now available here. The wording was taken from CPA’s Peace Confidence Index (PCI) poll, of which the ethnic breakdown for this same question from the latest report in November 2007 shows an interesting and significant divide between the Sinhala and the Tamil, Up-Country Tamil and Muslim communities. Image... groundviews, December 31, 2007

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Boink Blogs said,

November 24, 2007 @ 10:33 pm

[...] we can end the war and attain peace in Sri … groundviews placed an observative post today on Poll: How do you think we can end the war and attain peace in Sri …Here’s a quick excerptPoll closes on 31st December 2007. survey software - Take OurPoll. [...]

Sie.Kathieravelu said,

November 27, 2007 @ 6:52 pm

Give a place tpo the civil Society to suggest a proposal. Politics is a very big subject that cannot and should nt be left in the hands of the professional politicians. The politicians must not be allowed to decide the future of the civil society. It is the civil society that must decide the system of governance that is needed by it. Not the politicians

Sunimal Alles said,

November 27, 2007 @ 8:43 pm

Look my fellow Sri Lankans,

I jumped into a plane in 1972 to Trichy, by traveling from Colombo to Jaffna and no-one challenged me nor asked me to show my bag. I drove to Jaffna and back in 1975 without any problems.

Everything that is happening today is to enable people at different levels and different classes and religions and ethnic groups to keep them occupied or earn money freely without working.

So, so long as there are people who have no “Profession” and see the money they can earn when there is war, displacement, destitute and fragmentation, there will never be peace.

The majority of Sri Lankans do not know peace and a life without war or insecurity. So it is “Un-natural” to be in a state where there is peace and tranquility. Imagine a Sri Lanka without war? How many will be unemployed, how many will have to do a serious job to earn their bread and butter. How many “Facilitators” will loose their jobs?

My friends, we will never have peace as there are too many people earning millions due to the war!1

kbob said,

November 27, 2007 @ 11:33 pm

I am for peace negotiations as a means to achieving peace, since war will only bring short term and superficial victories, and it will not solve the root cause of the problem (which is ethnic grievances and a just administrative system). However, the LTTE has clearly shown its rejection of anything less than eelam, which is unacceptable. Therefore, what is required is a two-pronged approach: 1) devolution of power 2) massive economic investments in war-torn areas.
No terrorist organization/insurgency can survive without the sustenance of the population. For as long as the legitimate tamil grievances exist, so will the LTTE. We need to defeat the LTTE from within. This can be done only by devolving power to Tamils (giving them political power equal to that of the Sinhalese), and by providing Tamils with a strong reason to support the government instead of choosing the alternative, which is the LTTE. For this to happen we need to bring back the sense of normalcy to the north-east, through providing employment opportunities and economic investment. Only then can the LTTE be suffocated and cease to exist. But for all this to happen there must be the correct government in place, which I do not see in our current regime.

Sham said,

November 28, 2007 @ 10:19 am

This is to the persom who did up the survey-
Option 1 - government defeats LTTE
Option 4- Political negociations after Government defeats LTTE
Option 6 - Stop war & Conduct Negociation

isn’t options 1 & 4 in total be compared against option 6???

currently if you have 22 votes for option 6, with 11 votes each for options 1 &4, wouldnt that mean Option 6 = (Option 1+ Option 4)???

Damien said,

November 28, 2007 @ 7:36 pm

I think Sham doesn’t understand the concept of “Division of Consensus”. This is done to associate a statistical value to a distorted view of the public opinion.

Politicians are notorious for this kind of thing. In Sri Lanka, NGOs also take part.

PS: Sanjana, if you fail to allow this post, there will be other people talking about it, as well as your censorship in the blogosphere

groundviews said,

November 28, 2007 @ 10:00 pm

Dear Damien,

I would appreciate if in future, you would be more restrained in public displays of inanity and mindless blather.

Thank you,

Sanjana

S.Kumar said,

November 29, 2007 @ 6:42 am

Let us foget the past. Forget all political differences. Stop the war and commence negotiations with the parties concerned for a permanent and lasting solution. Let us be honest, dedicated and committed. Let us think of the country and the people as a whole.

ethnichybrid said,

November 29, 2007 @ 8:22 am

I think we have gone too far to forget the past. What we need is to come to terms with the past, acknowledgement from both sides on wrongs commited a kind of truth and reconciliation process that will allow both communities to constructively air their grievances.
I agree with Kbob’s suggestion of economic investment in the conflict areas. Right now there are indeed two countries, even if no-one else acknowledges it. Both economically and politically. But it might take around a hundred years for us to come to a solution. Miserable thought no?

Nusa said,

November 29, 2007 @ 9:08 am

The option now would be to both parties to agree to stop fighting.
If we can have another peace accord and let it last for 5 years I feel that there would be peace.
Once money starts flowing into the north & east, economic & social development begins, and school children are taught in class rooms and not in gurilla camps - there will be peace; because then there will be no reason for the LTTE to exist. Without a cause they would wither and dissapear; like it almos did during the peace accord. Example - Karuna break up.

Guess thats exactly why the LTTE helped the hard line government of Mahinda Rajapakse to win and not Ranil Wickramasinghe. Becausee one thing they can’t tolerate is a lack of a cause. How else can they continue to raise the multimillions through human smuggling, drug smuggling and donations?

So the question is - What does LTTE want? Perhaps what is happening today is exactly what it wants and the best thing happening to them. They have a cause to survive.

naz said,

November 29, 2007 @ 9:11 am

intelligence, wit, generosity of spirit, thinking out of the box, vision, patience, tolerance, compassion, love.

flippant? hardly.
a leap of the imagination? most definitely.

Mujeeb said,

November 29, 2007 @ 10:13 am

I’m always affecting by the war since 1990, Therefore Please STOP THE WAR AND COMMENCE NEGOTIATIONS FOR A PERMANENT SOLUTION. Meantime i foget my past because i want PEACE for safe people for enjoy their wonderful world.
WE SHOULD BE A (HIGH + MAN) HUMAN, Lets think for HUMAN not for race, religion, region & language

Duke said,

November 29, 2007 @ 11:07 am

I agree with Sunimal Alles’s opinion. Thats one of the reasons for the war. Certain People with vested interests from both ends are making lot of money and no one wants to let it go. With this sceanrio peace is a tough call. I believe we need to have the thought of being “SRI LANKAN” than calling our selves Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims.
But I wish and pray that we will see light end of the tunnel soon, and that peace will dawn on our mother land. That wish I’ve had for many years like many other Sri Lankans.

Dujon said,

November 29, 2007 @ 12:47 pm

I agree in total to kbob. The only addition i would like to make is that the LTTE leaderdhip and the “lpresent leaders” of the govt. of Sri Lanka are playing the same game of profit making by war. It was observed by Jane’s defense website that the LTTE makes a clean profit of US $ 300 miilion, annually, out of the war effort. A bootomline any multinational company CEO will be proud of. I leave it upto you to imagine how much the “Leaders of SL” make per year.
So it is upto all of us to talk about the different alternatives among outselves, Because I find that the more “exposed” or well informed persons seem to think that war is not the way foraward, and war achives nothing.
Thanks,

Pippi said,

November 29, 2007 @ 8:56 pm

I too agree that political power should be decentralized which seems to work alright in multi ethnic countries such as the US, Australia, India and Canada for the most part. I feel that the Tamil is very hot blooded in his/her psychological makeup and inclined to violence as a means of achieving ends. I think a psychological analysis of this phenomenon is worthwhile to study as to why they are wired this way and how this base instinct could be tamed - who knows it could be the spices and the hot Jaffna weather!! Also the LTTE is a guerrilla force and thats the way they make their existence. I don’t think they are capable of so called peace talks that the Mahinda Chinthanaya envisages because simply thats not their style - they are not in the business of talking but in militant warfare. I also feel that the ordinary Tamils are being more and more marginalized as the days pass by and no human beings deserve such unkind treatment. The truly great are strong in their weakness and it would be good for the proud sinhala Lions to be knowledgeable of it.

P. Mutukumarana said,

November 29, 2007 @ 9:55 pm

Dear all,
We all are human beings who can think logically. Also we should understand that absolutely there is no difference among the socalled ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. The only division is some are in majority and others in the minority. But still all are humans. There is no reason why one group should deprive others their status in society. All should be able to correspond at ease, follow their religious beliefs and stand as equal citizens in Sri Lanka. So there is no need for war. Those who want to corrospond in Tamil should be able to do so freely. The sinhala majority already enjoy their rights. Why should there be a need for war. Cannot the LTTE and the SL Government understand these basic principles. Give your hatred for each other and stop this violence. Come to some settlement respecting each party as your own. Then you can save all this colosal amounts spent on WAR. Cultivate Maithree.

Suchith said,

November 29, 2007 @ 11:43 pm

Sorry to say… but I do have to agree in with Damien that the survey run above seems to divide opinion in a way that it brings up pre-intended opinion.

Though I did cast a vote, I am not comfortable with the above poll as it seems to be biased in what opinion it wants to highlight.

Suchith

groundviews said,

November 30, 2007 @ 1:11 am

Dear Suchith,

I am very sorry you are uncomfortable. Perhaps you missed out on the “other” field, where you could used your fertile imagination to tell us exactly what formulation would have made the most sense? As for Damien, I only published him because the comment above the “threat” leveled against me was sensible in that he brings out a legitimate concern on how poll findings are used.

Tellingly however, every single political party including the SLFP in Sri Lanka is, judging by their record of (selectively) quoting and using our survey research data over the past couple of years in the mainstream media, convinced that we produce a poll that they can use that is not inherently partial to any one party, option, viewpoint or solution.

Sanjana

Economist said,

November 30, 2007 @ 12:16 pm

According to economics the war can be ended only with either outright victory for one side or the other or when both sides reckon that the costs of the war are too high. Such costs made the British government to change its mind after resisting the IRA for several decades. Economic targets destruction by the LTTE forced the government and the people of the south to seek peace in 2004. But since then there has been a more or less conventional war and the government has got the upper hand. The LTTE desisted from civilian targets because they did not want to be condemned by the International Community. Now that the International Community has condemened it anyway the LTTe seems to be reverting to the previous strategy of exploding bombs in the South just as the Government seems to be unconcerned with civilian casualties in the north arising from aerial bombing. A well known economist Paul Krugman once commented that a more economic way to end the Second world War was for each side to bomb its own country and as the costs increased equilibrium would be reached faster and more economic.

andrews said,

November 30, 2007 @ 5:42 pm

AnAn Indigenous National Sovereign country must dedefend its inviolable national sovereignty at all times against any invasive terror. A section of the non indigenous Tamil minority must realise with human intelligence that for a Tamil national struggle the ONLY place is TAMIL NADU (Tamil Country) with 70 million Tamil nation within the Indian subcontinent. Not in host national countries like Srilanka, Malaysia, Burma, Britain, France etc., where they have migrated now or before.

When a non indigenous minority settles down in a host national country, they must merge, integrate and diversify with the host nation who have allowed entry. If every non indigenous minority settled in host national countries demands and terrorises to rob and expand in other nation’s lands; the world will have a major chaos to deal with the injustice of “invasion by migration”.

kbob said,

December 1, 2007 @ 5:03 am

Andrews, what you say couldn’t be further besides the point. It does not take a genius to realize that when an outsider enters a sovereign land, he/she must adapt to the laws and social norms of the indegenous land.
Who exactly is this ’section of the non-indigenous tamil minority’ you speak of? You mean the Tamil people? Who is this ‘host national country’ you speak of? The ’sinhala nation?’
You clearly have no idea about the root cause of this conflict. It is not at all about some group of terrorists mushrooming out of nowhere and demanding a homeland. It is about legitimate tamil grievences caused by such things as british colonial policies, sinhala only act, ‘83 riots etc. For as long as those grievences are not satisfied, terrorism will continue to exist.

And to educate you a bit…Tamils and Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka at approximately the same time. So no one race can claim to be the ‘host’ of the other. In fact, before they arrived the country was inhabited by indegenous tribes/yakkas.

suntzu said,

December 3, 2007 @ 11:12 am

For God’s sake DEVOLVE POWER!
If you don’t…expect more bombings like the one at Nugegoda!
When will the Sinhalese ever learn?

SivaR said,

December 13, 2007 @ 5:14 pm

It’s very very simple. Thetwo major Sinhala Parties must declare in detail their package to assuage the Tamils and to redress what The Sinhala Parties consider to be their genuine grievances and facilitate the achievement of what the Sinhala Parties consider their lawful aspirations.A mediator-negotiator nominated by the UN can then call upon the Tamil Liberation fighters to state their requirements and bring about at least a period of peace long enough to assess the succcess of the process.
Once a genuine effort is made and majority of the populace involuntarily express their views/satis faction long standing peace must result.

Election Rigger said,

December 16, 2007 @ 7:57 pm

Your poll could be rigged by multiple votes by one person. There should be a check on the IP address. Your poll is a paradigm of the ‘Peace Talks’, all rigged without trust.

groundviews said,

December 16, 2007 @ 8:17 pm

Repeat voters are blocked to the extent made possible by http://www.polldaddy.com, which hosts the poll, by cookie and IP address. Your comment is a paradigm of those opposed to peace talks, all hot and bothered without any understanding of reality.

Cholan said,

December 18, 2007 @ 9:50 pm

SivaR the Tamil liberation fighters don’t have to “state their requirements”. The TULF Vaddukodai Resolution made and signed by Tamil democratic moderates and voted for by over whelming majority of democratic Tamils in 1977 says…

“And this Convention calls upon the Tamil Nation in general and the Tamil youth in particular to come forward to throw themselves fully in the sacred fight for freedom and to flinch not till the goal of a sovereign state of TAMIL EELAM is reached.”

POLITICAL NEGOTIATIONS AFTER LTTE DEFEATS SINHALA GOVERNMENT

Barathi said,

December 20, 2007 @ 2:15 am

Cholan has expressed himself correctley what Vattukotti Resolution says.

Ilankaian said,

December 20, 2007 @ 4:20 pm

Only way to bring peace in this Island is to understand each other and respect other as humans. Numerical number to over power the other ethnic group does not give the right to bully. Secondly, one should not distort the history. the indigenous tamils are equally indigenous as the sinhalese. The sinhalese languague arose from Tamil, Pali and Sanskrit. Even mahvamsa was written in the 6th century that too in Pali and not in Sinhala. Vijaya came in the 533 BC, Buddha lived in the 653 BC, Buddhism as a religion came to ceylon during King asoka time in243 BC, when Devanampiyatheesan son of Mutthu sivam was a Tamil king following Hindu Religion. Ellan ruled in 143 BC. So if one not knowing the history is not an excuse to brand the Tamils as migrants. If Sinhala people’s ancester were Villan Vijan and his bad commpany, they married women from Pandya Tamil people, so who are they half tamils? However, the history being rewritten by sinhala fanatics to suit the Sinhala masses as the sole owners of this Island. Two nations were united by British, at independence the big brother (Sinhala) grabbed the power and started denying the younger brother(Tamil) his share. This simply putting the story of the present day. Kandy was rule from 1739 to 1815 by seven successive Tamil Kings. Only solution is for British and the UN to hand over the lost share of the Tamils back to the Tamils. We are not fighting for the sinhala peoples shareor their land. What the LTTE has been doing was trying to defend the state terrorisim on the Tamil community for the past Three decades.Once the sinhala people understand the injustice caused by their politicians and preachers of ahimsa Bikku’s and the damage that have been done to the Tamil community since independence, Only then there will be peace. At present climet when the sinhala masses have been brain washed with a distorted history of the Island. It is very hard to see how one can achieve peace other than UN/IC forcefully separating the two nations to go on their way . I can’t see any other way as both side are entrenched in a dead lock. srilankan government is seemed to be winning the war only through the help of many other nations and mercinaries. First the Tamil mercinaries should stop killing their own people and stop helping the GOSL security forces. Then the IC should understand this rhetoric of the GOSL that they are fighting the terrorist. Sooner the whole world understand this fabrication of GOSL to cover its own mis demeanour on the Tamils will help UN to find a suitable solution.

simple minded said,

December 21, 2007 @ 3:03 am

All people have aspirations. All want a decent life. First put up a plan that meets these aspirations and then decide which way to go. One might have several options to try and eliminate. Main thing is to have a plan - that Tamils and Sinhalese will live in harmony with respect (and like brothers with occassional infighting permitted), ALL will have EQUAL opportunity - no discrimination, that religion gets into the noble level it deserves to be in - OUT of politics.

Have such a plan that attracts EVERYONE. Then decide on the path.

The main instrumentality with the capacity to put up such a plan in the government in power.

simple minded said,

December 21, 2007 @ 3:13 am

Sorry, a spelling mistake - can’t afford mistakes on this life and death (literally for some) matter.

The main instrumentality with the capacity to put up such a plan (that provides a vision for a peaceful outcome) is the government in power.

sanjay said,

December 23, 2007 @ 12:42 pm

the German literate Brecht once said ” imagine there is a war and nobody goes to the front…” its our corrupted politicians from both sides who were instrumentalizing the civilians in a bloody war just only for their own profits, economical as well as political. The mass media put oil in the fire for the same reasons and there are enough idiots at both sides to think that they will become martyr in the history. The unsatisfiable greed for wealth and the ego of very few persons in the past and present has killed more people in the world than any epidemic course. The sad thing is this phenomena often seen in the poor countries and the rich countries try to make the best out of it for their own profits. Only we, the public, can change this situation with courage and intelligence to say no to such a madness.