Commemoration of war dead must be a part of search for peace

• This raises the question if the war victory against the LTTE has brought in peace in the country

A day before the government held National War Heroes Commemoration at the National War Heroes Commemoration cenotaph in Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, Tamil leaders particularly in the north commemorated what they call the ‘Mullivaikkal Day’ to remember those Tamils killed in the three-decade long separatist war.

When a group of people attempted to hold a Mullivaikal Day commemoration at the Wellawatte beach on Sunday, another group belonging to another ethnicity had barged into the area to disrupt the event, but the police intervention prevented any untoward incident.

In the past, especially during the governments under the Rajapaksa brothers, commemorations of those killed in the war by the Tamil people along with their political leaders in the north and the east were obstructed by the armed forces and police. However, this time, as happened during the Yahapalana government, there were no reports about armed forces or police preventing Tamils in a decisive way from commemorating their loved ones killed in the war or demolishing the tombs at the graveyards of cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which the Tamil leaders call “Maveerar thulium illams” or “Abodes where the Great Heroes slumber.” 

Generally, no Sinhalese agree with those commemorate the Mullivaikkal Day while the Tamils reciprocate towards the commemorations of the armed forces and police killed in the same war. This raises the question if the war victory against the LTTE has brought in peace in the country. It is as if we are experiencing a situation where guns are silenced, but hearts of the northerners and the southerners are apart. 

However, nobody can deny that we are not as concerned about the safety of our children now as we were waiting with bated breath, till they returned home, some years ago when bombs went off in various parts of the country. The parents of Northern and Eastern Provinces are also not in fear of their children being victims of bombs falling from the sky. Even the Tamil politicians are now free to conduct their political activities without any fear of being bumped off. 

In spite of the fact that commemorations of those combatants of both sides killed in the war must be a part of the search for lasting peace, they have become annual events recalling past sufferings possibly rekindling hatred. Despite the successive governments having promised to bring in truth seeking mechanisms the Northern and Southern politicians want to use such issues to boost their narrow political ends. Northern and Southern politicians have failed to arrive at an agreement, over the past 16 years since the end of the war, over the nature of the justice that has to be meted out to the victims of the war, with one group wanting to see retributory justice while the other being hesitant even to see restorative justice. 

Those who were killed in the war, irrespective of them being the LTTE cadres or the members of the armed forces or civilians, were human beings. Hence, can there be a situation where the Northern and Southern people commemorating the LTTE cadres as well as the members of the armed forces take place together? The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2010 seriously considered this point and made a suggestion in the concluding paragraph of its report, as a measure towards reconciliation. 

“The Commission strongly recommends that a separate event be set apart on the National Day to express solidarity and empathy with all victims of the tragic conflict and pledge our collective commitment to ensure that there should never be such bloodletting in the country again. Based on testimonies it received, the Commission feels that this commemorative gesture, on such a solemn occasion, and at a high political level, will provide the necessary impetus to the reconciliation process the nation as a whole is now poised to undertake” The report said.

Yet, would a Southerner come forward to commemorate an LTTE cadre and vice versa? It seems to be an extremely remote reality for the moment. This points that Sri Lanka has a long way to go in its efforts towards reconciliation.

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