The special session on Sri Lanka has come and gone, though interested parties such as the Dutch Foreign Minister seem determined to continue on an adversarial path. Nothing can be done however about those with political agendas, and though it is depressing to see such agendas asserted with self-righteous sanctimoniousness, the world does not really take seriously such posturings on the part of politicians.

One of the key tasks for the Peace Secretariat in the post-conflict era will be to encourage initiatives that bring disparate actors together. A recent collaboration to supply prosthetic limbs to disabled people in the Eastern Province has demonstrated that even simple welfare projects can be organised in a manner that promotes reconciliation.

The Peace Secretariat, in pursuing its mandate to coordinate the peace process, has sponsored a number projects aimed specifically at uplifting the living conditions of women affected by the conflict. The latest in this series was a workshop for Puttalam IDPs held on May 16, 2009, by the South Asian Perspective Network Association (SAPNA) in association with SCOPP. Thirty educated young women from IDP camps in the area were selected to participate in the workshop.

 For each man kills the thing he loves
 By each let this be heard
The coward does this with a kiss
The brave man with a sword
 
The antics of some elements in the West get even more curious, as they seek to resurrect at least some aspects of the Prabhakaran legacy in what seems an adventurist strategy to destabilise South Asia. Interestingly enough, the latest evidence of this comes from TamilNet which still continues in a state of denial about the death of Mr Prabhakaran.

We are told that the UN claims that about 7,000 civilians have been killed in fighting between the Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE over the last few months. It is also claimed that 16,700 have been wounded, ‘according to a UN document given to the Associated Press by a senior diplomat’.

When the delegation of British MPs visited Sri Lanka earlier this month, the hostility of the Conservative Party representative was disconcerting. Reports in the Daily Mail indicating that John Bercow is Labour's favoured candidate for the vacant position of Speaker of the House may explain it, as the Peace Secretariat explains in a letter to the editor.

Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat wrote to the editor of the Sunday Times yesterday, to express his concern at efforts by one of its reporters to distort his words. His letter is carried below.

The last week has seen a spate of articles alleging atrocities in the welfare camps in which most of those rescued from the LTTE are now housed. The most recent of these is by someone called Gethin Chamberlain, who has claimed that 'Detainees in one of the camps told this reporter that a number of women Tamil Tigers have been murdered after surrendering to the authorities. The bodies of 11 young women were allegedly found with their throats cut outside the Menic Farm camp near the town of Vavuniya, according to people being held behind the razor wire perimeter.'

Though the Government has been coping satisfactorily, with the assistance of its humanitarian partners, with the recent huge influx of IDPs, the demand for basic necessities has increased dramatically. The Peace Secretariat has therefore been assisting efforts to collect and distribute such necessities through mechanisms that supplement ongoing programmes.

One of the few consolations of having to travel to Geneva practically weekly to deal with yet another British thrust against Sri Lanka is the range of old Alfred Hitchcock movies available en route. One I had not heard of before was ‘Dial M for Murder’, starring Grace Kelly as a rich young lady who married a tennis star who soon tires of her as she does of him. He decides to have her murdered, and blackmails an old acquaintance into attempting this, but the lady manages to fatally stab her assailant during the attempt.

When the news finally broke of the death of Mr Prabhakaran, predictably enough there was rejoicing in the country. In Colombo this took the form of crowds bearing flags and processing through the streets. Though there was some inconvenience to vehicles, as far as my own experience went this was minimal, and the crowd seemed reasonably disciplined and even polite.

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States was welcomed all over the world. Even in Sri Lanka, though obviously the Bush approach to terrorism had helped us, and though John McCain was more likely to be tough on terror, an idealistic young President with no hang ups about race or ideology seemed by far the better bet for the world.