Warning that the non-withdrawal of the military for the past seven years will lead to an uprising, Vigneswaran described LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran as ‘a creation of state terrorism.’

He made the comments as a guest speaker at a discussion on nation building and reconciliation, organized by ‘Decent Lanka 2015’, with senior journalist and political analyst Kusal Perera’s compilation ‘UNEARTHED’ Ten Years in Sri Lanka (2005-2015) at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.

He noted that restoration of a civilian situation as a prerequisite for confidence-building.

No existence of single Sri Lankan nation

Vigneswaran said he did not admit the existence of a single Sri Lankan nation, and that what he meant by nation building was to build the divided nation while maintaining the dissimilarities and distinctions of each community.

Finding the root cause for the division of the nation and creating an atmosphere in which a solution could be found are of paramount importance for reconciliation, said the NP CM.

Such a situation is not possible when the north is having 90,000 war widows and 150,000 soldiers are occupying private land, he stressed.

Had demilitarization taken place gradually and concrete steps taken in the past seven years to resolve the national question, the country would have been on the path to reconciliation by now, said Vigneswaran.

If the Tamil community is continued to be mistrusted and the military stayed among the oppressed, no one could be blamed for the creation of another Prabhakaran, he said.

Preaching to a person in hunger

Noting the Lord Buddha’s words that preaching to a person in hunger is futile, he said solutions could not be expected from a community whose war widows are under military control and is facing serious economic hardships due the loss of land and livelihood.

The reluctance to demilitarize the northeast is no recipe for reconciliation, he said, and described the central government’s attitude towards the provinces as ‘authoritarian.’

The only way towards rebuilding the divided nation and achieving reconciliation is by adequate devolution of powers now with the central government to the provinces, recognition of equal rights of the majority as well as the so-called minority communities and allowing all of them to co-exist with mutual respect and decency, added Vigneswaran.

Full speech by C.V. Vigneswaran is as follows :

No community has clear idea of nation building

Guest speaker, senior journalist Victor Ivan recalled the past of more than six decades since the colonial rulers left the country and accused the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities of not having a clear idea of how to build the nation.

He wished the present rulers at least will have the wisdom to do so, gagana.lk reports.

Full speech by Victor Ivan is as follows :