Sri Lanka must move beyond triumphalism and bitterness

Sixteen years ago, Sri Lanka emerged from one of the bloodiest civil conflicts in modern Asia.

- Milinda Moragoda

The military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended a nearly three-decade war that cost tens of thousands of lives, displaced entire communities, and left deep scars on the national psyche. For many Sri Lankans, the end of the LTTE marks the return of peace. For others, it revives unresolved grief. But as a nation, it is time to move beyond both triumphalism and bitterness. Reconciliation—genuine, inclusive, and forward-looking—is the only viable path.

The LTTE was one of the most ruthless terrorist organisations of its time. It pioneered suicide bombings, forcibly conscripted children, and assassinated elected leaders—including Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Yet disturbingly, efforts to romanticise the group and its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, have gained renewed currency in some quarters.

Such narratives erase the fact that many of the LTTE's victims were Tamil moderates—people who believed in democratic solutions. Eminent figures such as Lakshman Kadirgamar, Neelan Tiruchelvam, A. Amirthalingam, and Alfred Duraiappah were assassinated precisely because they posed a credible alternative to violence. The LTTE systematically eliminated internal dissent, tightening its authoritarian grip on Tamil society.