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‘The Pity Of War’

By Chandi Sinnathurai

26 May, 2009
Countercurrents.org

The Sri Lanka War effort has annihilated lives, destroyed livelihoods, and left a deep open wound in the psyche of both the Sinhalas and the Tamils. The Tamil struggle has understandably reached a new phase. Enough is enough. From now on, there is no need of blood sacrifices of young human lives...Both sides can hopefully find a way of settling National Question through political means.

No doubt, Tamils must have been much distressed by the death of V Prabaharan. But as for Prabaharan, he would have wanted to go the way he did, in the battlefield, with honour, for the cause he fought until his last breath. He was a proud man. It is with pride he fell silent.

There is no reason for any one to play dirty political tricks, hide and seek games, and to be economical with the truth of his demise. For God sake, come off it...Let us honour the dead.

The Tamils must now look towards the future with firm commitments. There needs to be a collective reflection on this bloody war which has gobbled up thousands upon thousands of innocent lives. And the war has left the living simply the walking dead!

The Tamils cannot afford to be suicidal but as an honorable people, the Tamils have reached the cross roads. Armed struggle has reached the end of the road. But the journey continues. The Tamils cannot simply give up the quest for equality and self-determination - but this time, yet again, not by swords, but by means of dialogue. Not by taking revenge, but by offering a hospitable space.

The responsibility also lies in the hands of the Sinhala people. Hopefully there will be an attitudinal shift. They too need to walk that "Extra mile" and make real changes. The institutional racism that is found in the governing systems of the state must be readily dismantled. It is by making such deliberate and bold moves can they appeal to the hearts and minds of the Tamils.

Walter Wink writing about the structure of Truth-Telling states:

In sum, a society recovering from the trauma of state violence needs as much truth as possible. Truth is medicine. Without it, a society remains infected with past evils that will inevitably break out in the future.

[When the Powers Fall: Reconciliation in the Healing of Nations, 1997.]

Sri Lanka - that is to say all - both Tamils and Sinhalas and other communities who live in this tiny island owe it not only to themselves, not just to their forebears, and to the current generation who have been traumatised by all this blood-shed but also to the forthcoming generations...They owe it to all to bring honourable peace.

This is indeed the most vulnerable phase. All must take intensive care that peace is neither plastic nor still-born.



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