Abstract:
The Banda-Selva Pact of 1957 seems to be the first step in the process of finding solution to the Ethnic
Problems, from 1957 to 2002, 45 years, in the Northern and the Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka with
the view of solving all the national issues. Though the said Pact could not be implemented, it was a
base to the other Pacts. This Pact was signed between the S.W.R.D. Bandaranayke, the then Prime
Minister, and the leader of the Federal Party S.J.V.Selvanayakam, in 1957. This Pact was a flop owing
to the resistance of the politicized Buddhists monks and for other sundry reasons.This apart, the
publication of the book “First step” contributed much an immediate cause to the collapse of the pact.
The UNP distributed the so called book among the masses and stirred up the communal hatred in order
to prevent the furtherance of the Pact. The prime objective of this research is based on how the said
book played an important role to tear off the Banda-Selva Pact and owing to the racist actions and
changes cropped up in the annals of Sri Lanka in 1957 and 1958. In addition it analyzes how the
circumstances in the aftermath of the torn off the Pactbased to the other Pacts that came up. More over,
there are days of long bitterness among the people of Sri Lanka related to the solution to the ethnic
issues. It is a Himalayan task to unite the people and build up a nation in a multilateral country. It may
have to confront different ideologies and different type of hurdles when creating peaceful sentiments
and unity among communities. The majority community in Sri Lanka are arrogant due to racist
ideologies that they have the greatest share in politics. Meantime the minorities concerned think that
they have the right in politics to ensure the basic needs and to acheive equality. Moreover, all the pacts
signed in to boost up conciliation among the communities ended in failure. By and large the book titled
‘First step’ is the root cause for the failure and it becomes an important document in the series of pacts.
In terms of research methodology descriptive analysis is employed based on the first rate data from
News papers and other reports and this will be a paradigm for researches in the upcoming days.
