Sri Lanka's hour of glory is yet to arrive

| by N.S.Venkataraman

( June 29, 2012, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Millions of Sri Lankans living all over the world would certainly desire that Sri Lanka should become the torch bearer of freedom and democracy in the world and their hopes and aspirations are justified. However, no country can achieve its lofty objectives without striving for it.

A young Sri Lankan boy walks amidst smoke from anti-mosquito fumigation in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 28, 2012. More than 10,000 security forces have been deployed in Sri Lanka to help eliminate mosquito-breeding grounds in a bid to contain the dengue fever that has killed more than 74 people and infected 15,000 others so far this year. - AP Photo

It is sad that Sri Lanka had to be bogged down in civil conflict for many years, which forced it to pre occupy itself in the task of preserving its integrity and defeating the divisive forces. Sri Lanka has succeeded in this task but at great cost to its people and in the process drawing the attention of the world for all wrong reasons. But, any country has to necessarily fight back to prevent division of the country and this is what Sri Lanka did.

In a world confronted with violence and terrorism, no doubt , there are admirers for Sri Lanka for putting down the violent forces challenging the integrity of the country. At the same time, one cannot ignore the concern of the human rights activists about the sufferings of the innocent people during the conflict and the concern expressed by United Nations itself. Sri Lankan government is taking some steps to undo the damage but it appears that the steps taken by the Sri Lankan government are not meeting the expectations of the world community at large.

Sri Lanka can hold its place as a tolerant and peace loving country amongst the comity of nations, only by showing extraordinary initiatives to reach out to the people who suffered helplessly during the period of conflict. Even the people who suffered do understand the compulsions of Sri Lankan government in the past but certainly expect that the government should take some meaningful and urgent steps to mitigate their sufferings. Obviously, such people who suffered for long period do not have the energy or patience to wait , while the slow moving wheels of the government approach the rehabilitation issues in bureaucratic style.

The surest way of building confidence amongst the suffered people is to ensure that their children would be provided adequate and quality educational opportunities, that would provide them hope and confidence to face the future. Traditionally, the families in countries like Sri Lanka and India particularly amongst the lower income group, are very keen to bring up their children in a healthy manner. Nothing would satisfy them more than the measures taken by the government to help the children go to schools , get quality education and build themselves as empowered citizens of the country. The priority of the poor families is the need to bring up their children well and it is the duty and should be the strategy of Sri Lankan government to respond to such expectations.

It is very important that large number of schools and colleges should be opened in the erstwhile strife torn areas and the poor children in such schools should be given not only free education but also free mid day meal. This single step would enormously help Sri Lankan government to build good will amongst its population who have suffered due to the civil strifes.

Sri Lankan government can certainly ask for international support in opening many educational institutions and the human rights activists who now shout at the roof top will have to respond and perhaps can be silenced in a healthy way.

By creating massive educational opportunities for the children of the suffering families, Sri Lanka’s days of glory will arrive.