SRI LANKA: Tired of War, Businessmen Take to the Streets

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Sep 19 2001 (IPS) - Thousands of young executives and office workers linked hands on Wednesday in various parts in and around the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, in a symbolic gesture for peace on the war-torn island. Staff from the U.S. embassy and the adjoining British embassy in Colombo also joined the campaign outside the embassy buildings, while dozens of riot police watched.

But the human-chain campaign called by SriLankaFirst, a new peace group launched by the country’s business community, was disrupted by a group from the ‘Sihala Urumaya’ (Our Heritage) political party, which is opposed to peace talks with Tamil rebels and had launched a separate protest march against talks.

Office workers holding hands and carrying placards saying “We want peace” scrambled into their buildings after marchers from the Sihala Urumaya’s 500-member strong protest threatened to attack them.

But overall, organisers of SriLankaFirst claimed success in the first-ever street campaign by the country’s powerful business community.

A spokeswoman for SriLankaFirst said that latest figures show that close to a million people participated in the human chain peace programme.

“At the Katunayake free trade zone (just outside Colombo) there were 35,000 workers who took part in the campaign,” she said, adding that thousands of other took part in and and just outside Colombo.

Ranjit Fernando, chief executive officer of the National Development Bank (NDB) and one of the main promoters of SriLankaFirst, said the symbolic campaign on Wednesday was a success but “we are a long way from peace”.

SriLankaFirst was launched in the aftermath of Tamil rebel attacks in July on the Colombo airport, which has badly affected investments and the business community.

A Norwegian-led effort to restart peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels has been on the backburner since June, due to a political crisis faced by the ruling People’s Alliance.

The devastating rebel attacks on the Colombo airport and a neighbouring military base in July also caused further delays in the peace process.

NDB’s Fernando said every citizen, while being opposed to terrorism, also wanted peace.

Ken Balendra, chairman of the state-owned Bank of Ceylon and a respected Sri Lankan business leader who joined the human chain, told reporters that all political parties and people need to work together for peace.

The 18-year-old conflict, due to Tamil rebels’ campaign for a separate homeland for their minority group, has cost the lives of more than 60,000 people.

While there was overwhelming support for the business community’s first-ever attempt to get onto the streets to support peace talks to end the war, more than 60,000 people, civil rights groups also hoped the effort would not end with the symbolic gesture of “holding hands” on Wednesday.

Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the local Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), said the effort of the business community was a good start.

“I hope it won’t fizzle out with this symbolic gesture and would lead to a more systematic campaign,” he said, adding that the business community was coming out after it was hurt the most after the airport attacks.

Those attacks led to sharp increases in insurance premiums on planes landing in or taking off from Colombo, which brought a sharp fall in flights.

Tourism has been the worst affected from this crisis, with hotels closing and staff being laid off. Insurance for ships calling at the Colombo port were also raised as war-risk premiums were increased, affecting imports and exports.

Economists said that while Sri Lanka has taken many ‘hits’ on its economy during the course of its civil war, the July attacks were especially heavy on the business community.

“In this case it was virtually a direct hit on the business community as it affected tourism, imports and exports,” one economist said.

In recent weeks, at least three wide-ranging business groups have launched peace campaigns on separate fronts. Some said they were even prepared to talk to Tamil rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

“We feel we can no longer allow the situation to deteriorate any further,” Lalith Kotalawala, chairman of the giant Ceylinco Group and founding chairman of SOLO-U (Society for Love and Understanding), told reporters at a launch ceremony of his peace campaign last month.

His movement is also asking the government to provide relief to Sri Lanka’s struggling industries — hit by rising costs and cheaper imports — in rescheduling debts and urging politicians to pay taxes like any other citizen.

“We see an absolute violation of human rights when only the poor income earner has to pay income taxes while the minister of finance and the deputy finance minister, for instance, do not pay any taxes,” Kotalawela said.

The Ceylinco group is the biggest private insurance company in Sri Lanka and is involved in a range of other activities including banking, finance, leasing and real estate.

Two years ago, Kotalawela was involved in a pioneering effort by the business community to bring the two main political parties — the ruling People’s Alliance and the opposition United National Party (UNP) — to the negotiating table to find a solution to the ethnic conflict.

That effort floundered due to the conflicts between the two parties.

Kotalawela said his new movement, which already has 15,000 members and is aiming for a million, has written to the Tamil rebel leader requesting that he provide an opportunity for SOLU-U to hold peace talks with the rebels in Sri Lanka or in a third country.

“We can no longer watch helplessly while our political leaders stumble,” Kotalawela said.

NDB’s Fernando also agrees that if the need arises, SriLankaFirst is prepared to talk to Prabhakaran and his Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) if this would help end the war.

“We have not looked at any fresh options after today’s protest. But if it means talking to the LTTE, why not?” he said.

SRI LANKA: Tired of War, Businessmen Take to the Streets

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Sep 19 2001 (IPS) - Hundreds of young executives and office workers linked hands on Wednesday in various parts of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, in a symbolic gesture for peace on the war-torn island.
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