As the time for the presidential elections in Sri Lanka draws near, many people are wondering what the political fate of the ethnic Tamil minority will be.
Last May marked the end of a civil war that lasted 25 years, a war that resulted in the death or displacement of many civilians. The conflict was between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or the Tamil Tigers) and the Sinhalese majority.
The Tamil Tigers, although known by Western powers as terrorists, have been one among many in the history of Sri Lanka to fight for political equality and freedom of the Tamil minority, which had been deprived after independence by strong Sinhalese nationalistic sentiments.
During the colonial period, many thought the British occupants had treated the Tamil minority far better. After independence was declared in 1948, the Sinhalese took away much from the Tamils as an attempt to balance out the political playing field.
Sri Lanka not only had the ingredients for civil discontent, but it had been rapidly boiling since independence. Twenty-five years of bloodshed and failed cease-fires later, and we are left to wonder what the upcoming presidential election will mean to Sri Lanka.
Will unity actually occur in a country that has so recently known an end to war?
Just because blood is not being shed does not necessarily mean there aren’t points of conflict present.
To prevent the damages of dispute escalation, be that in terms of life itself, liberty or economic progress, the political needs of all groups within an area need to be dealt with to the greatest degree possible, not just swept under the rug and ignored until a particular conflict comes to a head and another bout of violence occurs.
This does not apply just to Sri Lanka, but to every country experiencing situations similar to this- the struggle of a group for political freedom or justice and the struggle of a state for order.
When it comes to the contending forces of freedom and order, one is not more important than the other; both should be prized in political organizations.
However, they are lost if the ones we label as terrorists and the officers of the state cannot compromise. Both will be violently stripped away in the process of destructive cause fulfillment.
At the end of the day, the common people are the ones who suffer the greatest by both forces butting heads regardless if the causes of the few and the causes of the whole are just.
Your common man, whether in the United States or abroad, is the one that will always foot the bills of war. The common man in Sri Lanka is the one who suffers the greatest at the hands of civil conflict.
This past year, Sri Lanka has witnessed a semblance of peace to a civil slaughter that has been in the making since foreign meddling and has waged for decades.
The candidates of the presidential election should use this chance not to just seduce the people for votes, but to seduce the people of Sri Lanka for much needed peace and stability.
However, this is an end result that remains in the hands of not just the politicians of the state or a group fighting for freedom at any cost, but the entire population of Sri Lanka.
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