From parades to ploughshares: has ‘peace’ finally come to us?

CHANGE can come in at a crawl.

- By Wijith DeChickera

Or it can fly in, overhead, while all eyes are on the ground.Could it be that more than irony — in fact, integrity with an ambition to deliver on promises made as well as the avowed intention — lies in Sri Lanka’s recently concluded 78th Independence Day celebrations?

There was no flyover for once in a remembered lifetime (from boyhood to more mature business) of the jet engines’ banshee-like wail.

While the traditional march-past of the usual suspects — all the king’s men (and women) in their standard flag-bearing regiments — were present and correct, one significant omission sent strong signals through more than the defence establishment.

Could it be that the tide is finally turning in postwar Sri Lanka? Are we finally prepared, and taking steps, to turn our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning-forks?

The past is prologue

Come the fourth of February every year and Colombo, Sri Lanka, drapes its de facto capital in fluttering flags, booming brass bands and drums, and — until recently — roaring war planes.

For decades, the annual Independence Day parade has doubled as a theatrical flex.

Armoured vehicles grinding past dignitaries, the crisp cadence of jackboots, and fighter and bomber aircraft thundering overhead to cap an ostentatious show of force.

But in 2026, the skies were silent — save for three choppers from No. 6 and No. 7 Squadrons... one flying the national flag, the others flanking it in wing-echelon in an otherwise empty heaven.

No fly past by old-school aeroplanes whistling hollowly past their prime. No clanking whirlybirds twirling above, or paratroopers dangling colourfully — and once, dangerously — over a gobsmacked crowd at Galle Face green and the Old Parliament's environs.