Stories of the Wind

My article that appeared on Groundviews today:

“The experience of minorities in the beautiful eastern district of Trincomalee perfectly encapsulates the dark and depressing reality facing minority communities across Sri Lanka. Trincomalee’s remaking is part of a larger national-level project. The new Trincomalee is a microcosm of the post-war Sri Lanka. At the expense of minorities, the Rajapaksa government is building a Sinhalese-Buddhist nation that is intolerant, illiberal, and regressive.

Five years on, any possibility of national reconciliation seems entirely distant and improbable. In retrospect, it is evident that the war never ended. Only armed fighting did. The government has only exacerbated the root causes that led to the original conflict. The future looks bleak indeed.”