What a tragic fall
Ramachandra Guha-September 09, 2012
Last year I travelled to Sri Lanka on work; my previous visit had been a decade earlier. The people were, as before, gentle and polite; the scenery spectacular; the roads and residences, spotlessly clean. But the political culture had changed in the interim. An air of Sinhala superiority was abroad. A war had been waged and won; what had been imposed afterwards, however, was a victor's peace. Instead of assuring the Tamils that their rights would be protected, the idea that only Sinhala-speakers and followers of the Buddhist faith were authentic citizens was being promoted. The army had not disbanded its units in the north; there were fears that large numbers of non-Tamils would follow them and settle there.
Ramachandra Guha-September 09, 2012
Last year I travelled to Sri Lanka on work; my previous visit had been a decade earlier. The people were, as before, gentle and polite; the scenery spectacular; the roads and residences, spotlessly clean. But the political culture had changed in the interim. An air of Sinhala superiority was abroad. A war had been waged and won; what had been imposed afterwards, however, was a victor's peace. Instead of assuring the Tamils that their rights would be protected, the idea that only Sinhala-speakers and followers of the Buddhist faith were authentic citizens was being promoted. The army had not disbanded its units in the north; there were fears that large numbers of non-Tamils would follow them and settle there.
