Our long-drawn out internecine war in recent history came to an end in May 2009 with the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE). We thus had an opportunity once more, post-war, to address anew the underlying causes for violent conflict in our society, come together as a country and find ways and means to reconcile ourselves to our monumental losses. Prior to the military defeats of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in 1989 and the LTTE in May 2009, the governments of the day were urged both by its supporters and foes alike to ‘fight fire with fire’ because a majority of the civilian population had had enough of our ‘liberators’. Tragically, however, we failed to seize the moment. Both the Premadasa administration and the Rajapaksa-led regime exploited their respective military conquests solely for the consolidation of their political bases. The continuing tragedy is that neither in the post-1989 period nor post-2009 was a genuine effort made to put in place mechanisms that could have led to national healing and wholeness.
Our long-drawn out internecine war in recent history came to an end in May 2009 with the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE). We thus had an opportunity once more, post-war, to address anew the underlying causes for violent conflict in our society, come together as a country and find ways and means to reconcile ourselves to our monumental losses. Prior to the military defeats of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in 1989 and the LTTE in May 2009, the governments of the day were urged both by its supporters and foes alike to ‘fight fire with fire’ because a majority of the civilian population had had enough of our ‘liberators’. Tragically, however, we failed to seize the moment. Both the Premadasa administration and the Rajapaksa-led regime exploited their respective military conquests solely for the consolidation of their political bases. The continuing tragedy is that neither in the post-1989 period nor post-2009 was a genuine effort made to put in place mechanisms that could have led to national healing and wholeness.