A Farewell to Arms

AS Sri Lanka tackles the post-crisis challenges with new energy under the new leftist government led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), some scars remain consciously overlooked.

- Arka Bhaduri

The question of humanitarian justice for the victims of the Sri Lankan civil war is one such unattended wound that lies deep under the skin of the island country. Recently, Sri Lankan Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala prohibited commemorative public events for the deceased members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Subsequently, three people were arrested on November 30 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Given that the LTTE remains a banned organisation, it is no surprise that commemorative events for LTTE members using the LTTE logo would be considered a legal offence. What remains problematic, however, is the lack of effort on the part of the government to reconcile the agonies of the war victims.

The 26-year-long civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE officially ended in May 2009 after claiming around 70,000 lives and displacing four times as many. Both sides committed a variety of war crimes. As the war ended, the entire LTTE leadership, along with scores of soldiers, were executed as punishment for their offences, but the government forces were never held accountable for the rape, torture and extrajudicial killings they committed. Instead, successive governments shielded the war criminals, promoted them sometimes, and tactfully suppressed investigations of war crimes. The victims demanding justice were silenced with the aid of anti-terrorism laws. The Tamil community and the Tamil-dominated former conflict zones were continually marginalised. While the economic cost of the civil war is much discussed, its hefty humanitarian cost remains largely unaccounted for. This intentional lack of reconciliation left a never-closing wound in the country's socio-cultural psyche.