Stories of the Wind

In stark contrast to the ‘victory celebration’ scenes in Colombo, in the North and the East Tamils lit candles and mourned their dead. Unsurprisingly, public assemblies were disturbed by the powers be. Yesterday, in Vavuniya, a stone laid in the memory of Tamil civilians who died during the final war was demolished by unknown thugs. There were many other incidents of threat and intimidation.

Tamils do not share any notion of ‘victory’. They do not feel, as the government claims, liberated. For Tamils, Mullivaikkal is where the Sinhalese majority state’s decades-long oppression reached its most horrific and ugliest heights.  This is a point those Sinhalese who regard themselves as progressives are yet to grasp.

It goes without saying that the LTTE leadership shares equal culpability for the events that unfolded in the final months of the war. However, it is important to remember that the state has given absolutely no space for Tamils to grieve their dead and come to terms with their emotional trauma. There is denial of the right to mourn collectively as a people. In such an oppressive climate, it would take a naïve man to expect the Tamils to acknowledge their political mistakes or commit to reconciliation. Such an expectation is foolish.

Foremost, Tamils need the space to exercise their fundamental rights.