Post-election, Post-war Thoughts
There are two moments in my life, in which I was ashamed of being born in this country due to events occurring in my lifetime. The first is on 19th of May, 2009, the first of post-war days, in which people were celebrating the victory of the bloody war in the streets, amidst thousands of fellow citizens were stranded homeless affected by war. No one cared to remember the civilian casualties and at least pray for them, nor the political leaders claimed to care about those people both dead and alive. That was the first moment, I strongly felt that Tamils were alienated from this country, though during war times, Tamils had to be searched for a long time at check points.
The second moment is on 9th of January, 2015, the day the Presidential elections were released and the social media were flooded with those statuses yet again separating the minorities from the country. All the hopes, I had for this country got shattered when I saw some of my friends had shared those statuses. It reinforced my belief that Tamils are alienated from the country, though I wanted to believe the opposite.
Now 3 weeks after the regime change, I am saddened by hearing people say that all the development projects are being halted and wishing the regime had not changed, they would have had expressways to Kandy and Kurunegala. For all those people, everything that matters for them is the megalomaniac projects that would fulfill their wants and comforts while they turn a blind eye that even fundamental human rights are being violated in North and East and also in the south to the socio-economically disadvantaged people. People in North and East are not being allowed to go to their homeland citing security reasons and development projects (e.x. Sampur) even after 5 years after war. Why can't they just for a second put themselves on those people's position and think what they would be feeling? All my life, one thing I learned about Tamils is that they love their homeland more than anything. By homeland I mean the village/ town in which they were born and were living ancestrally. Isn't that one reason, enough for making this change in regime whatever his/her race/ religion/ language is. It also makes me think, the ethnic problem/ national problem that they were talking all those years when LTTE was present suddenly got solved or disappeared after winning the war. Most of them fail to separate LTTE from ethnic problem which was present before LTTE, during their period and after LTTE. All of them were only afraid of the frequent bomb attacks in Colombo region, while people living the war had to undergo far more hardship and those people accepted what LTTE did because they believed that there was a national problem which needs to be addressed.
People who are addicted to drugs seldom understand that in long term it is fatal but seeks the temporary excitement to escape from the reality of the world. I think these people who complain were drugged by the previous regime to these megalomaniac projects and now they are starting to complain of withdrawal symptoms. It is our utmost duty to help them make it through the withdrawal period, as symptoms get worsen with time for a period.
Regarding this country, there is only one period in my life I felt sad. The period was from December 2005 to August 2006. Both the parties (government and LTTE) built a glass house called ceasefire and started throwing stones at it even before it can be made into a strong structure and the whole structure collapsed damaging both parties. There is no point in arguing who threw the stone, the result is the same. I will forever be haunted by the alternate reality where that glass house was protected and strengthened to everlasting peace.
The second moment is on 9th of January, 2015, the day the Presidential elections were released and the social media were flooded with those statuses yet again separating the minorities from the country. All the hopes, I had for this country got shattered when I saw some of my friends had shared those statuses. It reinforced my belief that Tamils are alienated from the country, though I wanted to believe the opposite.
Now 3 weeks after the regime change, I am saddened by hearing people say that all the development projects are being halted and wishing the regime had not changed, they would have had expressways to Kandy and Kurunegala. For all those people, everything that matters for them is the megalomaniac projects that would fulfill their wants and comforts while they turn a blind eye that even fundamental human rights are being violated in North and East and also in the south to the socio-economically disadvantaged people. People in North and East are not being allowed to go to their homeland citing security reasons and development projects (e.x. Sampur) even after 5 years after war. Why can't they just for a second put themselves on those people's position and think what they would be feeling? All my life, one thing I learned about Tamils is that they love their homeland more than anything. By homeland I mean the village/ town in which they were born and were living ancestrally. Isn't that one reason, enough for making this change in regime whatever his/her race/ religion/ language is. It also makes me think, the ethnic problem/ national problem that they were talking all those years when LTTE was present suddenly got solved or disappeared after winning the war. Most of them fail to separate LTTE from ethnic problem which was present before LTTE, during their period and after LTTE. All of them were only afraid of the frequent bomb attacks in Colombo region, while people living the war had to undergo far more hardship and those people accepted what LTTE did because they believed that there was a national problem which needs to be addressed.
People who are addicted to drugs seldom understand that in long term it is fatal but seeks the temporary excitement to escape from the reality of the world. I think these people who complain were drugged by the previous regime to these megalomaniac projects and now they are starting to complain of withdrawal symptoms. It is our utmost duty to help them make it through the withdrawal period, as symptoms get worsen with time for a period.
Regarding this country, there is only one period in my life I felt sad. The period was from December 2005 to August 2006. Both the parties (government and LTTE) built a glass house called ceasefire and started throwing stones at it even before it can be made into a strong structure and the whole structure collapsed damaging both parties. There is no point in arguing who threw the stone, the result is the same. I will forever be haunted by the alternate reality where that glass house was protected and strengthened to everlasting peace.
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