Misconceptions that prolong our ethnic conflict

There is no doubt that our ethnic conflict is the worst scourge that has bedeviled this nation since Independence. An incisive and objective look at the calamity would reveal that it is being prolonged by misconceptions born of prejudice, parochialism and rivalry. Perhaps the initial mis-concept is the impulsive assumption that the conflict has to be settled by a grant of concessions from one sector of the nation to another. There can be no ‘grantors’ or ‘grantees’ among ethnic groups in a nation. Once a community is inside, it should automatically be entitled to all privileges of citizenship. These privileges are inbuilt and non-negotiable. What is negotiable is only synchronization of interests. In the national context, fundamental rights do not depend on numbers. Claims of a community with lesser numbers are identical with those of another with larger numbers, for these claims are acquired by birth and not by force of numbers. Each community should respect the others irrespective of…