Opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has faulted the government for having allowed Sri Lanka's conflict to be internationalised without taking steps to resolve it. He has also urged the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) to present its report immediately.

What really led to the internationalisation of the conflict in its present form as an armed insurgency and why does a solution continue to elude us?

The present armed conflict had a long gestation period from the early 1970s and began to manifest itself towards the end of that decade, when India sought to tame the pro-American JRJ government through coercion. If ethnic violence against Tamils in 1977 gave the northern insurgency an impetus, the anti-Tamil pogrom gave it a turbo boost. The involvement of UNP politicians in that dastardly crime and how the JRJ government fuelled the flames of communal violence are only too well known to merit elaboration.

Had President J. R. Jayewardene declared a curfew and deployed the army immediately to crack down on the criminal forces unleashed by some of his own party members, the '83 riots could have been easily curbed without destruction of life and property. But, JRJ allowed the pogrom to run its course and apparently derived some perverse pleasure. The present UNP leader was a Cabinet minister of the JRJ government. What did he do to prevent that killing spree of genocidal proportion? (The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) has, in one of its well researched reports, named the UNP leaders responsible for the 1983 Prison Riots in which many Tamil inmates were brutally murdered in full view of prison officers.)

But for Black July and the attendant international opprobrium which the separatists used to build the Diaspora, Sri Lanka's conflict would have remained a bilateral issue a little more serious than 'Kachchativu' and Prabhakaran an underworld figure engaged in smuggling operations in VVT.

Thanks to the JRJ government including the UNP leaders who are shedding crocodile tears for Tamils at present Sri Lanka came to be known internationally as a land of cannibals. And President JRJ and his generals who were sent to the North with orders to quell the rebellion 'within days', did their damnedest to live up to that 'reputation'.

It was only after Chandrika Kumaratunga became Prime Minister in 1994 with Lakshman Kadirgamar as Foreign Minister that the country's image began to improve and the world took serious note of LTTE terrorism. However, she made a fundamental mistake. The UNP in spite of all its sins had taken precautions to ward off international mediation––except India’s––in what was essentially an internal problem of Sri Lanka. President Kumaratunga, still green in judgment and swayed by blandishments, invited the wily Norwegians who had been looking for an opportunity to gain a toe hold in Sri Lanka's conflict as facilitators in a peace process under her government. She could not have done the LTTE a bigger favour!

Although the Norwegian facilitators disappeared, when the LTTE torpedoed a truce with the Kumaratunga government in 1995, they continued their backstage manoeuvrings to help the LTTE inch towards its goal. The Vikings who came here on invitation under the Kumaratunga regime in 1994 after seven years made a forced landing under the UNF government.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe allowed every foreign Tom, Dick and Harry to have a finger in Sri Lanka's pie. He allowed the Norwegians to act according to their whims and fancies to the point of controlling the destiny of this country. For the first time a peace process was allowed to be hijacked by foreign powers under his watch.

The US, Japan, Norway and the EU appointed themselves as Co-Chairs and determined the course of Sri Lanka's peace process tying as they did aid to the progress to be made in it. Sri Lanka's sovereignty was thus subjugated to a pledge of $ 4.5 billion as aid, which proved to be pie in the sky. Mum's the word on the part of the 'Co-chairs' today as regards the promised aid but they want to interfere in Sri Lanka's internal affairs as of right. That is the price we have had to pay for an ill-conceived and harebrained peace effort under the UNP leader who is now lamenting the internationalisation of the conflict.

The UNP has also taken umbrage over Parliament not being apprised of the war situation. But, the CFA (2002), which was signed by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe behind President Kumaratunga's back was presented to Parliament as a fait accompli. He even prevented CFA violations being probed by a PSC. So much for transparency in that peace process! (Asked about transparency in her peace negotiations with the LTTE in 1994 at a press conference, President Kumaratunga in her inimitable style audaciously quipped: "Transparency does not mean running along the road naked!")

The Opposition Leader wants a political solution acceptable to all communities found posthaste. We could not agree with him more! Decapitating the LTTE is half the battle in solving the conflict, whose causes have to be eliminated politically to achieve a lasting peace. And a solution to be evolved will have to be acceptable to all stakeholders for its implementation to be feasible. But, unfortunately, in the peace process of the UNF government, there was no room for anyone other than Prabhakaran! Not even the SLMC could secure a notch in it.

Politicians are expert backseat drivers. They know the way but cannot drive! And they get badly exposed when placed behind the wheel. The Opposition Leader wants the APRC to present a solution but he pathetically failed to come out with anything by way of a solution from 2001 to 2004. He also joined forces with his bête noire, the JVP, to shoot down President Kumaratunga's Regional Council package in Parliament in 2000. Never mind a solution. He could not even bring the LTTE back to the negotiating table after Prabhakaran unilaterally suspended peace talks in 2003.

The Opposition leader who frowns on the internationalisation of the conflict is known for making a beeline for foreign embassies at the drop of a hat. When a party supporter comes under a government goon attack, say in Horowpathana, UNP leaders sprint like a rabbit to either the US embassy or the British High Commission even before the incident is reported to the police! The SLFP leaders were no better. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a poacher turned gamekeeper, when he was an Opposition firebrand battling the Premadasa government, used to go running all the way to Geneva to report President Premadasa to the Human Rights Commission. Today, he is faulting the Opposition for doing so!

As for the APRC process, all we have to say is that it is a farce. Those who are pressuring it to deliver the goods are only flogging a dead horse.

At least at this late stage, it behoves politicians of all hues to stop their favourite blame game. What is needed urgently is to put this war behind us as soon as possible and make a collective effort to identify and eliminate the political causes of the conflict through a dialogue with the participation of all stakeholders.