Geopolitics Of Indian Ocean: Sri Lanka Postwar Challenges In Reconciliation
By Asanga Abeyagoonasekera –March 22, 2016
Asanga Abeygoonasekera
President Sirisena who survived an assassination attempt several years ago, created the first sign towards true reconciliation by forgiving the LTTE rebel who was a key suspect. He even got the National Anthem to be sung in both languages Sinhalese and Tamil. These are positive signs of reconciliation. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe setup an advisory council for Young Global Leaders to advise him recently. From a close administration we have moved into an administration more outward and now we have media freedom restored fully, there are no blocked media sites. I see five challenges as a nation we need to overcome.
Good evening, Prof. Sara De Vido, distinguished scholars ladies and gentleman,
I was told it’s the first time a Sri Lankan and a South Asian speaker is delivering a lecture at Ca’Foscari University PISE lecture series and it is a great honour and privilege to speak at this prestigious University in Venice. This is the 6th International PISE (Philosophy International Studies Economics) Lecture and I wish your program great success.
I am certain we will have more academics and scholars who will visit in the years to come from Sri Lanka. I thank Prof.MatteoLegrenzi and the University for the kind invitation. Venice has been one of my favorite places since I was a child and I enjoy your hospitality and the beautiful city. Byron called Venice “the city is like a dream”, for me it’s a chemistry of poetry of light and water surrounded by narrow and gloomy lanes filled with romance.
Before I begin my lecture on “Geopolitics of Indian Ocean: Sri Lanka postwar challenges in reconciliation” a topic which I have spoken in United States earlier and few other places, I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to the innocent victims of the recent bomb attack two days ago in Ankara. This is the third attack in the Turkish capital in less than six months which shows the multiple security threats that Turkey now faces. A stable corner of the Middle East and the West’s crucial ally Turkey, now in a volatile region and at a dangerous moment. Pain of one nation should be pain of another as we are all interconnected in this world. This was the situation Sri Lanka faced for three decades and our streets were bombed by suicide attacks and we lost many lives. With the right political and military leadership with the courageous Sri Lankan military officers we crushed the rebels in 2009. From this day all Sri Lankans has enjoyed peace and we have not witnessed the ugly side of horror of war which I have witnessed since my birth and also became a victim due to the assassination of my father in 1994.
