The philosophy behind a covenant is a written pledge and an undertaking in order to come to peace. I will not take you back to history. You know how the Red Cross was created and how the United Nations was created.
If there is understanding among three groups of communities--the Sinhalese, the Tamils, and the left-out Muslims, and if it is signed and documented, then the people who sign as witnesses and underwrite those covenants--especially Canada in the international community--can hold to task the Sri Lankan government or the three communities if they fail to fulfill the covenant.
I think there is already a covenant happening. It has still not been signed. I can't remember, but it is called the APRC. The PTOMS that we had for tsunami development was blasted by--I don't want to mention them--interested groups who didn't want the Muslim community to come in, the division of the understanding of how we can share.
But let's look to the future that has to happen. We have to fulfill the future now if it is to happen. We can bring a covenant. There is a peace covenant happening. I think the 13th amendment has gone a little further. Yesterday or the day before, the Sri Lankan government said it's a nice note to take care of. It's willing to go beyond, and also it is prepared to give what is called a temporary ceasefire.
This is what I am talking about. This is what I'm telling you. We need communication as a tool to bring this to both the Sri Lankan people, to you guys in Canada, and to me as a Sri Lankan Canadian. I'm half this way and half that way.
Anyway, if we can do that, the covenant will definitely work. I'll tell you, sir, if you ask the 33% of the Tamil youngsters here, “Do you want peace, do you want to go to your country?”, they'll jump up and say, “Oh, I'm going to go.... We want to see it. We want to go. We want to jump. We want to see it.” They can't.
If a covenant is in place and the government is put in place to help it.... I think the Sri Lankan government will help, the Tamil leaders will help, the Muslim politicians will help. If the international community can help, we will start peace. That's where we have to start.
Thank you.