The Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation that functions under the office of the president conducted a one day conference for District Reconciliation Committees (DRCs) consisting of religious clergy, government officials, police and civil society members, appointed by the president in his capacity as Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation.
A book giving details of all DRCs and their memberships was launched on the occasion. It also sets out the values and objectives of DRCs.
Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms, Mano Tittawella, who functions under the Prime Minister’s Office, addressing the meeting of DRCs gave a hopeful view of the post-election scenario.
He said that apart from the Office of Missing Persons which has been established in law, two more of the reconciliation mechanisms promised by the government, the Office of Reparations and Truth Seeking Commission, would be presented to parliament and to the general public in the aftermath of the elections.
NPC’s executive director Dr Jehan Perera, who was invited to be a panelist at the conference, pointed out that learning about the importance of values mattered little unless those values were expressed in public life.
He said he hoped that the issue of inter ethnic power sharing would be resolved amicably between the government and ethnic minority parties and would take place after the local government election.