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RESTORE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION IN ALL ASPECTS TO ENSURE DEMOCRACY

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Created on 01 June 2011

The three week leadership training for incoming batches of university students in army camps that is currently being implemented at short notice is being debated nationally and is building up into a major political issue.  The government has justified this measure as a progressive one that will institute discipline and social etiquette in the students.  In the past universities have been hotbeds of student agitation and even violence. On the other hand, opposition political parties, student organizations and parents have expressed their opposition to this measure and questioned the need for this orientation to be given by the army and to take place within army camps.  They have also argued that the orientation course if deemed necessary could well be done outside the military camps.

The National Peace Council is concerned about the growing reliance of the government on the military to take up tasks that are essentially civilian in nature.  In the Northern and Eastern provinces the military continues to play an important role in governance, despite the end of the war, and former military commanders have been appointed as governors with overriding powers over the civil administration.  In the Vanni, the day to day matters which should to be dealt with by the civilian authorities often have to receive the final approval of the Civil Affairs Office of the military.  The people who have been resettled could feel they are under military rule.  In addition military officials are increasingly getting involved in livelihood and development activities bringing an additional layer that constrains the work of professional NGOs specializing in these areas of work.
 
In the South too there are also examples of creeping militarisation.  These include the use of military personnel to supervise the demolition of low income housing in Colombo and for more benign purposes such as to decorate streets with Vesak pandals and sell vegetables to bring down the cost of living. Retired military officers are being appointed to diplomatic positions in preference to career diplomats.  The military may be deployed in development work and to represent the country to justify the expenditure on them but other countries like Pakistan and Indonesia realized late that involving the military in civilian affairs would tempt the military to a desire for power which should be in the hands of the elected politicians.   It is ironic that the government has justified the imprisonment and ongoing trial of the former Army Comander Sarath Fonseka in part on this basis.

While Sri Lankans have every reason to be grateful to the military for winning the war and ending terrorism, it is unwise to mix the military with governance if we wish to progress as a democratic society.  What makes the military tick and what makes a society democratic and creative are quite different.  The strict subordination of the military to civilian authority in democratic countries, and the separation of military and civilian roles is an outcome of a long and painful process of historical evolution.  Failure to ensure this could ultimately lead to unwanted military rule nursed by a democratically elected government.  NPC calls for the restoration of civilian authority in all aspects of governance and for the separation of civil and military roles in society so that democracy may be ensured. 
 

Governing Council
 
The National Peace Council is an independent and non partisan organisation that works towards a negotiated political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It has a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka in which the freedom, human rights and democratic rights of all the communities are respected. The policy of the National Peace Council is determined by its Governing Council of 20 members who are drawn from diverse walks of life and belong to all the main ethnic and religious communities in the country.

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