It is a well known fact that under true democracy the language and religion of Sri Lankan majority community, would have gained prominence without the rulers propping them up and minorities would have assimilated it with their basic rights guaranteed by the original first constitution.
The state structure evolved earlier as per the first constitution from the time the country gained independence in 1948 included a proper system of checks and balances to provide a holistic rule to the country that was a multi ethnic and multi religious.
Unfortunately, the power hungry elite rulers had other ideas and their means did not justify the end with the introduction of the ‘Sinhala Only’ language policy and giving prominence to Buddhism in haste and the country was made a republic.
Unfortunately, the rulers ignored the first constitution and then replaced it altogether with a Draconian Constitution that antagonized the minorities. It caused several uprisings and finally led the country to a bloody and cruel civil-war that lasted several decades.
As the result the island nation that was a paradise in seven decades became heavily riddled country in foreign debts; worse still the civil strife cost the country many valuable lives and faced heavy destruction that pushed the country back by five decades in terms of development, is today at the mercy of larger nations, that places the sovereignty at risk.
In this scenario, the need is first to solve the ‘national problem’ as peace and prosperity of Sri Lanka depends crucially in finding solution to the ‘ethnic issue’. Then the President and his cabinet could take Sri Lanka as an undivided nation under a holistic rule to benefit all communities made up of many ethnicities and religions to make a united sovereign state.
Northern Breeze 