Sri Lanka's Tamils pin fragile hopes on regional vote
Toronto Star Newspapers
Minority seeks end to military occupation, fresh opportunities for thousands still displaced and destitute four years after civil war’s end.
LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Sri Lankan army troopers patrol in Jaffna, in Northern Province, where thousands of people will go to the polls this weekend for the first time in a quarter-century.
JAFFNA, SRI LANKA—One is a fisherman who doesn’t fish. One is a farmer who doesn’t farm.
No livelihood, no home, no land. But Ganesh Thirukumar and Pownan Savarasa, for the first time in a quarter-century, will have a say — at the ballot box.
“Yes, of course I will vote,” says Thirukumar.
“No, it won’t make any difference,” says Savarasa.
