Indispensable if incomplete: Prof. G.L. Peiris’ peace process memoir

PROF.G.L. Peiris’ memoir ‘The Sri Lanka Peace Process: An Inside View’ is invaluable, indispensable reading.

- By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

It should be on the bookshelf of every student of contemporary history of Sri Lanka. It should also be on the bookshelf of every student of ‘peace and conflict studies’ worldwide, as an example of what should and should not be done in striving for a negotiated peace.

The book must be taken for what its ‘strap’ says—an inside view. It is a narrative of an experience interwoven with a view, that is to say a perspective of a key player during a certain stage of the peace process. It is not an overview; a complete or comprehensive analysis of the process as a whole, or even of that particular stage of the process. It is by no means a holistic view; a perspective that strives to grasp the complex totality.

Prof. Peiris presents an authentic account as the chief negotiator from the Sri Lankan side during a decade of the peace process. For this, we must thank him because so few Sri Lankan actors during the thirty-year conflict have shared their testimonies with the public. As a scholar, Prof. Peiris narrates in a style that is lucid and readable, while organised and presented in a manner that makes it assimilable as academic material. I would urge that Chapter 1: The Historical Context, 21 pages in all, be serialised in newspapers, because there is no better background to the discussion on the Nationalities Question in Ceylon/Sri Lanka.

Tragic tale

Prof. Peiris’ memoir is the unintended account of a tragedy. This isn’t solely due to the zero-sum endgame of intense warfare—obvious testimony to the failure of the peace process. It is a tragic tale also because the peace process caused or resulted in:

1. The structural debility of the moderate centre in Lankan politics.

2. The rise of a Sinhala New Right.

3. A bloodier war than might otherwise have been.

4. A decade of diversion on a succession of ephemeral federalist/federalising constitutional constructs (1995, 1997, 2000, ISGA, P-TOMS).