Word: sri
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...freedom fighters should be unduly ignored. It’s been total war thus far, and both the state and the tigers have committed severe human-rights violations (the state itself has refused to allow the United Nations Human Rights Council to conduct an investigation). It is in Sri Lanka’s best interest not to pretend that ethnic violence on both sides did not occur. A sustainable peace cannot include any demonization of the Tamils, whether it is direct or indirect through the continued framing of the Tigers—who are heroes to many Tamil youth?...
...Since the 1980s, at least, the center of Sri Lankan politics has been dominated by Sinhalese Buddhists. Tamil Hindus and Muslims have often gotten the short end of the stick with regard to education, discriminatory language policies, and pogroms and political gerrymandering in their traditional homeland...
...Tamils are clearly not going to be given autonomy over their homeland. But they must be given equal political rights and at least the majority of the say in what goes on where they live. Dr. Amartya Sen has stated that the Sri Lankan government long ago forsook the “richness of plurality” and pushed Tamils to the peripheries of power. They must rediscover that richness and bring them back into the fold. Tamils must be granted the immediate ability to not only non-violently control affairs where they live, but also to have a voice...
...Sri Lankans, whether Tamil Hindus, Sinhalese Buddhist, or Muslims, should not have to choose between multiculturalism and political rights on the one hand and national security and the safety of their children on the other. Before the official end of the war, a promise must be made to address many of the Tamil grievances—short of independence—that fueled the fire in the first place. There cannot simply be a victor’s peace, for that is no peace...
...Once upon a time, the island of Sri Lanka was predicted to become the fifth Asian Tiger. That dream of prosperity can still be realized. But the state must adopt a more mature perspective on the possibilities of peace and prosperity. Nothing good will come through an asymmetric imposition of power based on ethnic lines. As Martin Luther King once said, “In the final analysis, the end is pre-existent in the means.” If sustainable peace is to be an end for Sri Lanka, the government must embody a new set of values...