Time and space to eclipse the sad face of Sri Lanka

THE blood moon of the night of 7 September brought with it a panoply of portents for Sri Lanka. A lunar eclipse lasting almost one and a half hours, its visibility was marred to some degree by intermittent scudding clouds. Very few islanders however, usually superstitious to the nth, paid heed to prophecies of doom and gloom; opting instead to interpret the celestial show as favourable for once.

- By Wijith DeChickera

In the wake of the nighttime heavenly spectacle came Sri Lanka’s showing at the 60th United Nations Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva. Led by the redoubtable Vijitha Herath fronting the island’s case as its foreign minister, the once embattled nation state had many eyes squinting at the fine print of the text.

That the portents were good was not in doubt except in the ranks of Tuscany where the JVP-led coalition’s critics, cynics and sundry scoffers sit in perhaps premature judgment on the tyro government.

On the cards were a host of positive developments in potential terms as well as in practice already that could or should have brought a more cheerful smile to the face of the presenting mandarin.

To wit:

@A strong defence of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty visa-vis potentially divisive international interventions

™An attendant commitment to protect and promote the rights of all the country’s citizens

®The programmatic approach of a government sincere in its undertaking to guaranteeing open civil society space, the expeditious establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the dismantling of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)

™Good use of existing agencies such as the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) to further the cause of transitional justice

™Moves to make amends for land commandeered by the state during the war — by returning the same to their rightful owners or offering commensurate compensation

Agency for duly and constitutionally constituted national processes in delivering the instruments of wide-ranging political, social and economic reforms

But why do I feel as if I am losing you? And is that dour minister — party hatchet man: jury, judge and executioner of past sociopolitical miscreants — not smiling because he senses that the government has miles to go before our nation state at last can sleep more soundly at night?