Fight Terrorist without becoming one: Sri Lanka

New Delhi, Jan 19: Terming the scourge of terrorism as the biggest challenge of the post-modern world, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Managala Samaraweera says it must be fought vigorously and fearlessly if democracies are to survive.

However, sounding a note of caution, he said even fighting the deadliest terorrists in the world, elected leaders must avoid the pitfall of resorting to terror tactics.

Mr Samaraweera was delivering the 14th Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lecture on ''Forging a Radical Centre: AResponse to Extremism and Intolerance'', here last evening.

''Sometimes, governments grappling with the scourge of terrorism respond to terorist atrocities with equal amounts of brutality and violence. They seem to forget that democratically elected governments must be above reproach at all times. Elected leaders do not have the option of resorting to teror tactics even when fighting some of the deadliest terrorists in the world.'' To buttress his arguments, he quoted from former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh's book ''A Call to Honour'': ''The vital imperative of remaining 'civilised' is to avoid at all costs the trap of becoming terrorists to fight the terrorist. Our fight against terrorists must not convert us into a clone of their methods: unseeing, uncaring and totally unmindful of our civilisational and human norms.''

Mr Samaraweera said despite the challenge of having to battle one of the most ruthless terror machines in the world for three decades, Sri Lanka had been constantly aware of the obligations to respect the rule of law and the need to address the grievances of the affected minorities.

''That is why we remain committed to a negotiated settlement to our ethnic question,'' he added.

Despite having to respond to a brutal war, thrust upon Sri Lanka by an 'intransigent and murderous terrorist group', he said the solution lay in the government's ability to gently nudge or entice these extreme elements to move towards moderation and democratic methods without compromising the island-nation's own integrity.

''The need today is how to find a durable and lasting peace without a craven surrender to a terrorist group,'' he argued.

Mr Samaraweera said the only way to resolve the conflict in Sri Lanka, or any of the myriad of similar situations round the world, to a sustainable peace, was by developing the concept and practice of a 'Radical Centre'. This would entail the creation of a centrist middle way where dissenting voices and opinions from every part of the political spectrum would have a place within a democratic framework through the decentralisation of governnace and devolution of power to all stakeholders.

''It would be a place where the years of deep mistrust would lose their sting within a non-violent, democratic systm where pluralism and secularism flourishes. The radical centre should be a place where the intolerant find that those they hate are, in fact, quite similar to themselves and have the same dreams and aspirations as well as fears and concerns.'' The minister said it would be erroneous to think that the middle path was a philosophy of weakness and impotence and a recipe from bleeding heart liberals trying to find excuses for a situation ''where anything goes and where the rule of law does not exist.'' The Radical Centre as envisaged must not shy away from reasserting society's belief in the rule of law, armed with strength to protect the sovereignty of the nation.

''The middle path of the radical centre must be based on the courage of convictions based on the principles of decency, freedom and the rule of law. It must be a philosophy based on the ideal of bringing the extremists fearlessly and vigorously into a radically committed centre where the rule of law shall prevail. In doing so, it should engage civil society as its ally.'' In this connection, he cited a personal example to prove how the rule of law played a key role in impleneting a centrist vision in 2001 when he was the Minister of Urban Development and Housing.

Mr Samarawera said he took a policy decision to clean up all the illegal and unauthorised structures which were not only an eyesore but a hazard to commuters in Colombo, the capital city.

''Hundreds, if not thousands of unauthorised businesses and some illegal dens of vice had sprouted making the sidewalks almost non-existent. Our policy was to remove each one of these illegal structures without any favouritism.'' He said despite the illegality of structures, this proposal was met with much opposition, even from his own parliamentary colleagues. ''Many of them accused me that I was going ahead with it only because my constituents were not affected by it. At this juncture, I went back to my own electorate, far to the south of Colombo, and made sure that all unauthorised and illegal structures removed in the hometown of Matara.'' Many of these structures, he said, belonged to people who had supported him in the general election. ''Having completed that, my ministry officials returned to Colombo and were able to remove the structures without much opposition. Subsequently, all bona fide businesses that were torn down were offered alternative locations while the slum dwellers were provided with alternative housing.

''The lesson to be drawn is that the rule of law, when applied to all fairly, can be a potent tool in development and progress,'' he added.

UNI