Sri Lanka has a long proud historical past in which we lived as one community under the Sinhale kings peacefully and you may turn the pages of our history to see that we had no conflict between the communities before the arrival of western colonial invaders to our shores in 1505. We did not know how to identify people by race, caste, creed, community, or religion. We did not divide ourselves as majority & minority. The western colonials taught us after taking away those very rights from us. They invaded and introduced their famous divide and conquer rule among us. We were not aware of caste segregation such as rich-poor division– the western colonials taught us a new mentality of thinking by segregating. However a few percentages of the Caste system did exist, but it was never associated with any demeaning quality. The western colonials taught people to look up to some and look down upon others. Our own armies have not gone out solely with the intention to instill an act of terror or conquer lands, Sri Lanka was never a martial race spoiling for war nor a fight. Sri Lanka has always been a beautiful island which is also known as the land of smiles and warm hospitality, but this was marred with ethnic strife which endured for a staggering three decades and further aggregated a rift in our social fabric.

The government has always been duty-bound to combat national security threats and ensure peace and stability in the nation. The Sri Lankan civil war was, at its core, a struggle for territory and power, planned and led by a violent insurgent known as the LTTE a group to which the Sri Lankan Government reacted militarily, trying to defend all its citizens. After three long decades on 18 May 2009, Sri Lanka ended the terrorism of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers. A beginning of a new era of peace, national reconciliation, and development began….

A bullet-scarred board marks the entrance to the north and east town still standing there as a grim reminder of the turbulence which sprung out of ethnic and racial differences. The memories are still so vivid: on the opposite side of the road is a giant woman exhorting and encouraging the public to join the cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with the ubiquitous listing of its martyrs glorified on a poster. The intensification of violence, in particular ground operations and bombardment, resulted in mass displacement of entire areas, especially areas that were controlled by the LTTE. During the conflict, violence was used to establish control over territory by the various armed actors. At the community level, the violence led to significant changes as entire communities were forced into displacement and/or lost access to their land. Massacres, individual killings, destruction of property, riots, and intimidation all impacted land use and control as well as relations between communities. During the war, many areas saw an ‘exchange’ in populations as particular communities fled vulnerable areas and instead moved to areas that were dominated by their respective community, or even fled to other Provinces. We are told there was a War against Terror.  The international community must see how various forms of terror, the LTTEcomminteed. That terror lasted 3 decades. All communities fell victims. In 2006, LTTE went overboard with the closure of the Mavil Aru anicut committing a war crime by denying water. The LTTE challenged the Sri Lanka military and the military successfully took the challenge and secured the citizens with water. During the final stages of the War the economy, Lives of citizens, and human rights were brutally denied and subjected to torture at the hands of the LTTE. The East was liberated from LTTE in 2008 and thereafter with the capture of LTTE’s capital Kilinochchi on 2 January 2009, the Eelam quest was annihilated and the country fell under one flag.

The sheer scale of the damage left a widespread feeling of unease even after the battle had ended. The conflict's dread persisted across several generations, and the pain it caused was accepted as normal. The current regime is aware that LTTE facets within the international Tamil Diaspora have been attempting to foment violence on the Island by falsely portraying the Sri Lankan government with stories and condemning the government for war crimes.

The LTTE was also well known for recruiting child soldiers to fight against the military.The LTTE gave cyanide capsules and grenades to its soldiers, including children, with strict instructions to take the capsule or blow themselves up rather than allow themselves to be captured by the Sri Lankan military forces. Against this backdrop, Sri Lanka decided to do what no military in the world has ever done. In an unprecedented move, Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksha declared not to prosecute children who surrendered and offered more than 594 child soldiers a special Presidential Pardon, rehabilitated and instructed that they be given the education they were denied. For years, the Tamil children who held a gun were finally given the chance to hold a pen/pencil by the Sri Lankan Government and pursue their dreams and goals.

The path to Reconciliation and Humanity

After the war ended in 2009 around the city, there were similar scenes of spontaneous celebration. Flags were taped to car wing mirrors, convoys weaving through the traffic, pillion passengers on motorbikes clutching flags that streamed out behind them the country was free from terror.

The government of Sri Lanka headed by the President practicing the Buddhist principles of forgiveness and compassion very much understood the knowing the value of human life, and considered the Ex-LTTE cadets also as human beings whose minds were heavily brainwashed, distorted, and misguided, and could be given a chance to reform and be rehabilitated to become useful citizens of the country. Sri Lanka commenced with the Sri Lankan Forces laying down their arms to take up a new and different role to right the wrong and commit to following a suitable path for the best interest of the country. Their humanitarian actions painted a heartwarming image as they were seen feeding the hungry citizens, nursing the wounded, carrying and assisting the elders and the disabled, and traced back to the relatives of people who had undergone untold suffering. They also managed to bring back their parents, children who up to then had worn the cyanide capsule and carried a gun were wearing a gold chain and happily attending school to finish the studies that were denied to them for many years. Heart-to-heart Counseling programs were conducted extensively in order to cultivate their minds, for a harmonious life in society.

The aspirations of Sri Lanka’s people are changing, and catering to those desires, particularly in the growing urban class, will be a key medium-term economic and political challenge for the government. In the south, attitudes towards types of jobs are changing. The continued growth of migrant worker remittances is putting cash into the hands of people at the lowest social level. President Mahinda Rajapaksa undertook large-scale development — building roads, providing electricity and restoring railway networks — and never missed a chance to create more opportunity them. The former government began reconstructing the damaged fisheries harbor to help revive the livelihoods of the fisherfolk of Myliddy, located on the island’s northern tip, in the Jaffna peninsula. (Meera Srinivasan, 2020)

Creating space for Cultural Diversity

Presently in Jaffna a museum showcasing and celebrating aspects of Tamil history and culture has been opened in Navatkuli, Jaffna – making it the first time in history that a museum of its kind has been built on the island. The Sivapoomi Museum was established on the 25th of January, 2020. It was founded by Dr. Aru Thirumurugan, the purpose of the Museum is to collect objects and materials of the cultural, religious, and historical importance of Sri Lanka and preserve them, research them, and present them to the public for the purpose of education and enjoyment. The Museum will be preserving history, culture, and knowledge, both of the past as well as the future. The institution was created in the public interest to engage visitors with a deeper understanding and to promote the enjoyment and sharing of authentic cultural and natural heritage. Therefore In a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country such as Sri Lanka, such allegations of not being culturally diversified need to be refuted in the interest of social harmony and to prevent the spread of dangerous fallacies about Sri Lanka in the international community.

Figure 01: http://www.sivapoomimuseum.com

When the LTTE was eventually defeated and its leadership abolished the present regime is aware that LTTE elements within the global Tamil Diaspora have been trying to foment violence on the Island. However, the Government is fighting against these threats campaigned by the LTTE front organization externally and internally. Unlike earlier, remnants of the LTTE and their sympathizers have now brazenly come out into the open to put up posters, flags, banners, and cutouts of the slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. In an attempt to revive the LTTE there are certain figures located in Canada, the UK, Europe, and Australia who are engaged in active networks motivated to plan and conduct a series of threats in Sri Lanka.

In the effort to counter extremism and terrorism, the movement to build bridges that halt tensions and conflict which give birth to extremists and terrorists is of utmost importance to enact Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) since the end of the war and the active counter-insurgency campaign, there have been much fewer reports of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. This is a positive change. Nonetheless, the terror machine established to destroy the LTTE’s revival remains in place. Many people in the north and east have been able to speak about awful atrocities they observed or experienced because to official documents like the LLRC.

The government has made many steps and is bridging and will take more steps to come together to achieve this by promoting and formulating local dialogues frameworks, especially for intergenerational dialogue; Re-engaging the State in the most deprived neighborhoods; Implementing a mediation policy with the assistance of religious leaders; Adding the prevention of violent extremism in advocacy policies; Promoting the rehabilitating and reintegrating process of former violent perpetrators; Developing policies for combating young people’s precarious conditions and poverty, in particular through implementing training centers and supporting entrepreneurship; Implementing a conflict management system at the neighborhood level; and Creating recreational centers and youth development frameworks. Through adversity, the citizens of Sri Lanka will be able to move forward in a peaceful, nonviolent manner to overcome these artificial divisions and enmities that were created in the past and decide to find refuge in each other as children of Mother Lanka against both overt and covert aggression and oppression. While keeping in mind to shatter the Differences and strive to move forward into the future as one nation.

Reference

Meera Srinivasan, “In Sri Lanka, yet another chance at post-war recovery”,(2020) The Hindu, https://www.thehindu.com

Nilan Fernando, “Sri Lanka: Rising to the Challenges after the War”,(2009)The asia foundation, https://asiafoundation.org

Taras, R. and R. Ganguly, Understanding Ethnic Conflict (2002) : The International Dimension.

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Yong, C. (2017). No place for divisive speech. The Straits Times. [Online]. Available

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