However, the recent communal clashes in Sri Lanka that has necessitated the imposition of national emergency have belied the hopes of politics in Sri Lanka becoming stable and progressive. The image of Sri Lanka in the eyes of the outside world has certainly suffered due to this communal violence and the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to project Sri Lanka as a peaceful country and encourage investment from abroad and promote tourism by people from across the world have suffered a setback. It calls for high level of maturity and the statesmanship on the part of Prime Minister and President of Sri Lanka to take the necessary proactive steps. Sri Lanka is not the only country where such communal violence in different forms has taken place. While Sri Lanka government should take stringent steps to promote communal harmony by promoting appropriate climate of harmony and the political leadership in Sri Lanka should avoid narrow and short sighted partisan outlook to win votes and support, the basic necessity of maintaining demographic balance in Sri Lanka between different religious groups should get utmost priority.

Source: Sunday Times March 12, 2018 02:48 UTC