An operational algorithm for peace

- Not any kind of conflict, of course, but the ‘mother of all conflicts’ in which the redoubtable ‘Father’ is none other than the Great Tamil Warrior Pirapaharan. An algorithm - by its very nature - has an unambiguous ‘first step’ such as ‘ divide the larger number by the smaller’ or some such thing as ‘divide throughout by the coefficient of the unknown with the highest power’.
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by Leo Panthera

(April 01, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The words ‘algorithm’ and ‘peace’ do not blend very well and it is wise to begin with a definition. The notion of an ‘algorithm’ is of mathematical provenance and has its roots in the attempt to mechanize certain kinds of derivation that are repetitive and laborious.

Some of those reading this article will recall (with distress perhaps) the procedure involved in extracting the square root of a number or solving a general quadratic equation. - in instances such as these, there is a stepwise operational sequence that, if blindly followed, gives the correct result. The original wisdom which makes possible this ‘algorithmic’ or stepwise resolution of an otherwise tediously difficult task lies buried in the procedure which is foolproof if meticulously followed. There is no need to point out that the concept of ‘algorithm’ is central to the everyday execution of tasks that computers excel in - and is disastrously wanting in those areas of human endevour where politicians still call the shots.

The writer was struck by the thought that the principle - if not the rigorous procedure - of the mathematical algorithm might have a place in the resolution of that tangled skein of acts, events and cross-currents that constitute the politics of the day in our troubled Island of Lanka. And, what better test of its efficacy (i.e. of the Algorithmic Approach) than its trial - and vindication - in that monstrously difficult and muddy terrain of conflict resolution in Sri Lanka.

Not any kind of conflict, of course, but the ‘mother of all conflicts’ in which the redoubtable ‘Father’ is none other than the Great Tamil Warrior Pirapaharan. An algorithm - by its very nature - has an unambiguous ‘first step’ such as ‘ divide the larger number by the smaller’ or some such thing as ‘divide throughout by the coefficient of the unknown with the highest power’. Let us see if there is such a procedural ‘step one’ that is irrevocably given in solving the Great Pirapaharan Problem (GPP). Alas, this key first step is diddled, fudged and dodged by the big-noise politicians who are supposed to be steering things on our behalf.

Consider the options (1) P must be crushed militarily. (2) P must be given a sound hammering so that he can be brought kicking and screaming to the negotiating table. (3) P can never be defeated - let’s talk to the fellow so that Lanka can be spared the horror of a marauding Eelamist State at its doorstep led by a bloodthirsty Tyrant. (4) The ‘war’ is unbearably expensive - let us give the devil what he wants and be over with it. (5) Let us commit constitutional hara-kiri by dismembering Sri Lanka into principalities that can be asked to fend for themselves - the call for ‘homelands’ will be stilled through surfeit and there will be nothing to fight over.

Dear readers, do we have a consensus on this pivotal first move that determines the pathway that must be selected in resolving the GPP? In other words, do we have agreement on ‘step one’ of an operational algorithm for peace? It is not the hoi polloi that must be sampled to see if unanimity exists on this score - they are mere pawns wantonly kicked around by the Power-Wielders and Shapers of Lanka’s destiny. Regarding the latter, what we do see is appalling inconsistency, muddled thinking and a willful and brutal neglect of the ground-rules of responsible governance.

Let us look first at the issue of personal steadfastness or unwavering commitment to a given course of action. It is the great tragedy of our time that the highest in the land have no qualms as to the use of deceit, equivocation and plain lying - that triad that serves the ordinary politician so well - in matters of crushing national importance. Thus we have ‘Big Bug X’ at time T saying ‘ the brute P must be destroyed’ - seemingly in line with option 1 listed above.

But the same ‘Big Bug X’ at time T+1 declares with anguished concern that the war must end, willy-nilly - in line with option 4. At time T+2 the same august personage declares with a heart-rending display of ‘angoisse’ for the trampled minorities that only a constitutional revolution can bring peace to this country — seemingly in line with option 5. The disarray augments spectacularly when we sound the opinions of ‘Big Bug Y’, ‘Big Bug Z’ etc. ‘Big Bug Y’ is a hawk and is irrevocably committed to the destruction of the man, his diabolical mission and the bandwagon of Eelamism entrained by the perfidious villainy of a blood-thirsty madman P. Things are viewed differently by the Fat Master of the Chamber of Deputies, the Chief Oppositional Pooh-Bah and the Knightly Psalm-Singers of the Chosen People - they see the villain as the Crusading Champion of the oppressed Race and a man with whom one could do fair business - clearly they have option 3 in mind as the initiating step in the operational algorithm for peace. That there are numerous (and nutty) characters in high places who will sell their soul to the devil ‘for the sake of peace’ (option 4) cannot be overlooked. Strangely, the opinion of the Men in Uniform is discounted.

There is a myth in the chronicles of the one-God Faith that a great tower was built to enable the God-Seekers to reach heaven (The Tower of Babel) but that the Big one (Jehovah) spoilt things by blighting their communication-channels - a confusion of tongues. Can it be that the fair Island of Sri Lanka is the opprobrious concern of the Powers Above and that the confusion is part of a well-orchestrated game of divine interference? While this cannot be ruled out, there is a more likely scenario involving ‘Gods’ of a different kind - the white-skinned types living in salubrious climes to the north of our shores.

How else can one explain the disastrous lack of unanimity on so clear-cut an issue? There is the Great Pirapaharan Problem (GPP) that will not go away unless the ‘author’ is removed by force of arms. This first step in the operational algorithm for peace (option 1) cannot be replaced, side-tracked, dodged or fudged because it is the quintessential requirement for the resolution of any or all of the other problems - constitutional, geographic, social etc - that the Tamils and other minorities face.

The stark reality of this ineluctable first step notwithstanding, we have a cacophony of voices raised - a veritable Tower of Babel -in support of the other options given above that advocate the execution of a ‘peace algorithm’ that that can be described metaphorically as the construction of a costly fence which leaves the beast inside - alive and kicking. A note about the White-Skinned Interfering Gods must be inserted at this point. Clearly, the motivation of the WSIGs cannot be the same as the patriotic leaders of the Sinhala Majority - our incarnate devil is their valorous freedom-fighter.

Our historic Lanka is for these pale aliens a god-forsaken hole that must be parceled out and given to their historic allies. While all this is understandable, the willingness of our purported leaders to bend over backwards to placate the pale-skins - indeed, going so far as to be trampled upon to release flatulently odious concessions to the forces bent on destroying the nation - is mind-boggling And, it is not only the pale-skins who have beaten the shit out of our leaders: one has only to recall the Bird-Turd Era (the Avifaunal representative from India) to realize how precarious is the moral commitment of our leadership and how squalidly ignoble is their pursuit of political power.

It will be pointed out that all this is neither here nor there - we need desperately solutions, not learned analyses Friends, we heartily agree - but a solution is structured and sequential and there is necessarily an inescapable first step that must come right if the result is not to be an unmitigated disaster for all concerned.

It is this first step of the peace Algorithm that has been famously botched by those at the helm of affairs in our unfortunate land. In the Euclidean Algorithm to find the ‘highest common factor’ of two numbers, the first step is the division of the larger by the smaller. Nothing is gained by multiplying these two numbers or finding their logarithms. Likewise, the solution of the GPP involves the defeat of P as an uncompromising first step. Given this demarche, others follow of necessity such as the subordination of each and all to the dictates and perquisites of war. None of this has happened and the nation squirms like a wounded beast bereft of those vital survival-reflexes that will bring it succor.
- Sri Lanka Guardian