Bopage’s suggestion for the diaspora of all communities to enter into a dialog to resolve the conflict is unrealistic when one considers the numerous conflict resolution seminars over a period of more than 15 years organised by various local and international institutions. On top of that are the failures of the many All Party Conferences, including the latest one, and Parliamentary Select Committees over a period of 30 years.

The discipline of conflict resolution grew out of the literature on Marriage Counseling. Most of the ideas and concepts of conflict resolution evolved from those of Marriage Counseling. Many institutions, including UN, US Institute of Peace, newly established institutes of conflict resolution in Univ of Calif system, Harvard and others have published many books and papers on conflict resolution. Having read most of the literature that are available and after attending conflict resolution conferences and Diaspora conflict resolution workshops over fifteen years, it is my conclusion that, rightly or wrongly, that the political conflict resolution discipline has not yet grown significantly beyond the marriage counseling set of principles. When I told this to the Harvard conflict resolution team in 1998, they did not take it kindly.

It is important for Bopage and others thinking in terms of conflict resolution to device innovative ideas to resolve the political conflict in Sri Lanka. Conflict resolution, unlike resolution of marriage problems, does not have the co-ercieve force of the legal system. The judge can order a temporary separation, or a divorce and re-distribution of assets when marriage counseling fails. The judge can punish the perpetrator of violence against the spouse or their children.

To resolve our conflict, we need a mediator with a co-ercieve force. Norway failed because it was only a facilitator. LTTE wanted a mediator in 1977, but GoSL, because of sovereignty problems, wanted a facilitator and LTTE agreed. SLMM was a recordkeeper with the power to publish because they were not given powers to enforce – sovereignty problem again.

Let us not repeat the same old processes that had failed over many years. Like children do, we often repeat the same problem solving process many times knowing that they have failed each time but hoping it would miraculously succeed the next time. When I was a child I was told that the negative of the pictures we took from a Kodak Box Camera are washed by the studio to get positive photographs. So, instead of giving the old negatives to the studio to get prints I used to wash them in water over and over again hours on end! In this digital age I put my old negatives on my scanner and get a digital positive to store in my computer. No need for chemical developers and fixers.

Let persons like, Bopage, Sanjana, Rohan, Sara, Uyangoda, Liyanage, Javid Yousef, Ruke and others like them put their heads together and come up with a unique draft constitution that will solve our problem. Start with a blank sheet without any watermarks of hidden symbolic parameters of one community or other. Then let the people discuss that in a forum such as groundviews and accessible media in the local languages. Revise it after taking into consideration constructive criticism. Repeat the process if necessary to fine tune it. Then publish it and present it to the protagonists and the international community for their consideration. Just a thought.