Lanka crisis unites people divided by 25 years of war

Tensions between Tamils and the Sinhala-Buddhist majority have an old history but anger against the Rajapaksas has brought them together for now

- Jaya Menon

Sri Lanka’s brutal and bloody ethnic conflict officially ended, after 26 years, on May 20, 2009, yet its two biggest ethnic groups, the Sinhalese-Buddhist majority and the Tamils, remain as divided as ever. Many are still haunted by the bitter memories of June 1986, when Sri Lankan navy personnel unleashed a brutal attack on Tamil civilians in the high seas off Mandaitivu island in Jaffna Peninsula, torturing and killing 33 fishermen. Today, a board at a checkpost in Mandaitivu, guarded by Lankan army men, reads: ‘Together we reach Unity in Diversity’. Many see it as a sign of changing times, and are hopeful that with Lanka’s economy in tatters, a people’s movement against the SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) government led by siblings President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa is scripting what may be a new chapter in ethnic harmony.