THE Baquba bomb attack yesterday achieved all that it could have hoped for — tears and mourning. The terrorists cannot bomb their way to power. The only way that any opinion in Iraq can be listened to with respect is when it is delivered across the negotiating table and is open to debate and compromise — especially when those who will sit at the other end of the table are Iraqis themselves. This is a lesson that all those who have political grievances that need to be addressed must learn sooner or later.
Sri Lanka provides a good example. It was once a society torn apart by bombs every bit as devastating as that which ripped through the innocent people near Baquba’s police station yesterday. There were times when ordinary Sri Lankans from both Sinhalese and Tamil communities must have despaired of peace ever returning. Their civil conflict has claimed more than 65,000 lives.
But peace did arrive. The fighting had largely stopped. The rivers of innocent blood had virtually ceased to flow. Then came a car bombing this month in the capital Colombo, the first in three years and it seemed that the old nightmare was returning. Fears grew that the peace process, so patiently brought about by Norwegian envoys was in danger.
Since the fall of her bitter political rival, former Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe, President Chandrika Kumaratunga has seemed influenced by hard-line military officers who still believe, despite nearly 20 years of fighting against the separatist Tamil Tigers, that the rebels can be defeated. Matters have been complicated by a dispute within the Tamil Tiger leadership leading to the defection of Col. Karuna, whom the Tamil Tiger leadership has accused of cooperating with government forces. Any hopes that the Sri Lankan government may have that they will be able to divide the Tamils and thus make them vulnerable to a renewed military onslaught are foolish in the extreme. Not only is it almost certain that the rival Tamil forces would reunite in the face of such an attack but such an action would destroy the still fragile trust that exists between the two communities.
It is thus extremely encouraging that Kumaratunga announced yesterday that she is willing and keen to restart talks with the Tamil Tiger insurgents. Her decision followed a visit by Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen who has spoken to both sides in recent days. The peace process is not yet out of trouble but it is heading the right way again. Only when talks restart can anything be achieved after 20 years of killing.
The people of Sri Lanka have tasted peace after a generation of death and destruction. They want their leaders to sort it out. They do not want to go back to their horrific past. So too in Iraq. Whatever their loyalties, most Iraqis just want to be able to get on with their lives in peace and safety. If the killers have something coherent to say, let them say it at the negotiating table. Continuing the ruthless carnage is a crime against their own people.
