The more immediate impact of the change in the voting pattern was the electoral campaign of 1956, at which the SLFP led by Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike pledged that he would make "Sinhala only" the official language of the country in 24 hours. The SLFP won in the general elections a victory beyond their expectations. On 6th June 1956 when he proposed the 'Sinhala Only' bill in Parliament, the Tamil MPs belonging to the Federal Party staged a Gandhian fashion seated non violent protest against it in the Galle Face Green. While the Prime Minister was addressing Parliament, armed Sinhala gangs broke up the protest, even throwing some protesters into the nearby Beira Lake. State policemen stood by watching without any action. Riots then broke out throughout Sri Lanka where Tamils were assaulted, homes, shops and property burned. In 1956,

You are today in a significant turning point of the post Independence history of Sri Lanka. We are in the 25th year of the civil war in our dear country. If you permit me to say it, this is largely due to 50 years of the inter-party political rivalry, since 1956, of the two main political parties you lead. You have an opportunity to usher in peace in this country by agreeing to a Southern consensus resolution of the national question or to plunge this country into a further 50 years of violence and national destruction.

The country has reached a situation of lawlessness that is the responsibility of the Government and Parliament to bring under control. There would also be agreement that there can be no peace without an understanding with the LTTE led by Mr. Velupillai Prabhakaran. There is a necessity for many of the majority and minority communities to realise how and when the ethnic conflict erupted. In this context let me make a brief reference to some of the longer term causes of our national problem.

The period of Independence began on 4th February 1948 under the 1947 Constitution agreed to by the political parties under the inspiring leadership of D. S. Senanayake, accepted as the Father of the Nation. This Constitution, drafted with the advice of Sir Ivor Jennings, the vice-chancellor of the then University of Ceylon, contained some wise safeguards for all the ethnic communities in the country, such as section 29 which provided that there would be fair treatment for all communities, and the independence of public services commission from party political interference.

The working of this constitution had a balance of representation of the ethnic communities in Parliament. In 1948 at Independence the Tamils had 33% of the voting power in the legislature. Upon the disenfranchisement of the estate Tamils in 1950, this proportion dropped to 20 %. The Sinhalese obtained more than 2/3 majority in Parliament making it not possible for Tamils to exercise an effective impact on Sinhalese polices affecting them.

The result was that the two main Sinhala-led political parties had to compete for a majority in Parliament by obtaining the support of the floating vote in the Sinhala electorate. The deciding issues at elections became the ones which appealed to the Sinhala voters. This became clear in later times when the winning UNP, a Sinhala party, could obtain over 2/3 majority in Parliament, as in 1977.

The more immediate impact of the change in the voting pattern was the electoral campaign of 1956, at which the SLFP led by Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike pledged that he would make "Sinhala only" the official language of the country in 24 hours. The SLFP won in the general elections a victory beyond their expectations. On 6th June 1956 when he proposed the 'Sinhala Only' bill in Parliament, the Tamil MPs belonging to the Federal Party staged a Gandhian fashion seated non violent protest against it in the Galle Face Green. While the Prime Minister was addressing Parliament, armed Sinhala gangs broke up the protest, even throwing some protesters into the nearby Beira Lake. State policemen stood by watching without any action. Riots then broke out throughout Sri Lanka where Tamils were assaulted, homes, shops and property burned. In 1956, 150 Tamils were murdered in this violence.

Due to public pressure by some Sinhala groups, the Prime Minster tore up the B-C Pact he had made with the Federal Party leader Mr. S.V. Chelvanayagam in 1957. This led to much frustration among the Tamil people. The situation was worsened when there was more widespread violence throughout the country in 1958, when another 150 - 200 Tamils were murdered and 25,000 Tamil refugees were relocated in the North.

The UNP opposed the BC pact aimed at setting up Regional Councils in Sri Lanka ( a concept that the young Mr. Banadaranike had written about in 1920s and proposed in the State Council in 1940s). It is important to recall that this was the beginning of ethnic violence in modern times. The story of violence against the Tamils, with the connivance of the Sri Lanka state, continued into the 1970s with the killing of eleven Tamils at the 4th International Tamil Conference in Jaffna in January 1974. The state tolerated, if not sponsored, violence of 1977, 1979, and 1981, including the destruction of the prestigious Jaffna public library with its 95,000 volumes, said to be a group of 200 policemen from 31st May to 2nd June 1981.

During this period there were other polices such as the standardisation of marks for admission to university education. The qualifying mark for admission to the medical faculties was 250 (out of 400) for Tamil students, whereas it was only 229 for the Sinhalese, even if they sat for the examination in English.

The worst violence was in Black July 1983, when 3,000 Tamils were killed. It is estimated that since then about 300,000 Tamil have migrated abroad to receiving countries such as Canada and Australia.

The Tamil political parties opted for Tamil Eelam after the 1972 Constitution was passed by the Sri Lanka Parliament, against their wishes. This Constitution dropped the safeguards (section 29) against discrimination of minorities and in the appointments to the public service.

The LTTE emerged as a fighting force mainly after these experiences of state related violence and discrimination.

The two main political parties, the SLFP and the UNP have failed to agree on a constitutional solution to the ethnic problem of sharing power within a united Sri Lanka. This was not a matter of principle. They are agreed in substance on the type of devolution of power within a united Sri Lanka. But when the party in power proposes a solution, the Opposition party opposes it even if they have proposed it when in power.They haggle about words and constitutional finer points because they do not want the credit of a solution to go to other party. Thus in 1957 and 1965 on the Chelvanayagam pacts, on the Indo Sri Lanka agreement in 1987 with Rajiv Gandhi, on the solutions proposed by them in 1990s and 21st century under President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

A southern consensus is required for a renewal of the peace process. This needs a graceful reconciliation of 50 years of rivalry among persons, of families and groups of elites. The ordinary people want peace and harmony. The Asian countries that have not been engaged in such long conflicts are progressing remarkably with comprehensive plans for all round growth. Thus China with a 9.5 % growth rate since the 1980s, India likewise with about 8.% growth, not to mention the East Asian Tigers and Singapore. Sri Lanka had a very good record in the late 1950s but we have been embroiling ourselves in internecine conflict especially since 1970s.

We are killing each other, with more sophisticated weapons, now including aerial bombing. The ethnic conflict has taken 65,000 lives mainly of our young men from the poorer families. It is very sad to witness the crying of so many for the loss of their sons, husbands, mothers and daughters. They are also the internally displaced persons, living in insecurity, without stable homes, employment, schooling for children, health services and the normal comforts of home life.

Dear Mahinda and Ranil, the future of our country and the happiness of our people depend very much on you and your togetherness in resolving our 25 year (50 year) national question. We can be inspired by the values of compassion and reconciliation, of sharing power in a united country. You can undertake together a task of educating our people beginning with the schools system and the mass media. Violence is not overcome by violence. While law and order are maintained, we need to progress from constitutional solution to community building to ensure a happier future for the coming generations. May you have the light to lead us wisely!

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