Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena started from where he had left off, prior to the general elections, by urging all the country’s lawmakers to commence the journey towards ethnic reconciliation with the minorities. Six years after the end of a decades-long separatist war, Sri Lanka was being dragged back into a vortex of racial hatred and tension. Sirisena, having won a firm mandate in the recent elections, has put the nation back on track not just among its citizens, but in the eyes of the international community as well, which was campaigning hard for investigations into war crimes and human rights abuses.
Sirisena has applied the healing and unifying touch. Ethnic harmony and reconciliation are now on top of the agenda for the administrators. The deletion of controversial guidelines put in place by former president Mahinda Rajapakse has only strengthened Sirisena’s mandate amongst the people. Sirisena’s instructions appear to be well-timed given that they have come a month ahead of the United Nations Human Rights Council report on Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes during Rajapakse’s tenure. The global community should look at the president’s policies favourably and ensure that Sri Lanka comes out of scrutiny with its reputation intact.
