Thank you.
I know the peace process because I was one of those who initiated the peace process. You have my bio there.
The failure of the peace process was not the failure of the will of the Tamil people and the Sinhalese people and the Muslims. The failure of the peace process was because the people who engaged in the peace process were unfair to the Muslims. We were sidelined. We are 1.7 million people. The Tamils are 13%, and the Sinhalese are 72%. How can you bring peace without all three communities sitting at a table and talking to each other, which we did 50 years ago? We speak the Tamil language. We have the culture. The only thing different between the Tamils and us is our faith. The Sinhalese are Sri Lankans. They are of the same country. Their children and our children were together, but after 1956 and 1972, something happened.
I am saying here that if there is a political resolution, and if the international community is putting pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka, and the Government of Sri Lanka is willing to look into it in the aftermath of the LTTE, as you set out, then I think Canada should play an important role. Don't go by the process criteria and take two years, six months, or eight months to think about how to do it. Get down to it and say, okay, we can bring....
Let me say, sir, that the IPKF came into Sri Lanka outside the covenant of international law. Why can't Canada propose a covenant that is necessary for the Tamils, the Muslims, the Sri Lankans, and the Sinhalese together? Canada can take a role. Here we have communications experts to bring them to sit and talk peace. Because peace is not for us; it is for the next generation.
Thank you.