Shanika Sriyananda

Freelance Journalist- Daily FT, Amateur photographer, writer, and story-teller. Views are personal. Email: [email protected]

[M U M Ali Sabry @alisabrypc]

Reconciling Truth and Justice, A United Path Forward for Sri Lanka

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), once considered one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations in the world, remains a proscribed entity in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, India, Australia, and Malaysia. This designation reflects the horrific atrocities committed by the LTTE against innocent civilians in Sri Lanka, transcending ethnic and religious boundaries Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim alike.

The LTTE’s brutality was systematic and inhumane. Children were forcefully recruited as soldiers, denied the right to education and a future. Suicide bombings became their signature weapon, devastating villages, mosques, temples, and vital national infrastructure including the Central Bank, the airport, and the harbor. From the massacre of innocent monks in Aranthalawa to the slaughter of worshippers in Kaththankudy mosque and the horror of Dollar and Kent farm massacres, the scars of their terror remain deeply etched in our collective memory.

Their violence was indiscriminate. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Tamil political leaders, academics, journalists, and public servants were all victims. The LTTE also ethnically cleansed Sinhalese and Muslims from parts of the North and East. No one was spared.

While the entire country suffered during the nearly three-decade conflict, the Tamil community bore the brunt of it as the North and East became the main theatre of war. The LTTE, however, extended the conflict to the South and Colombo, unleashing a reign of terror across the island.

When the war ended in 2009, all Sri Lankans exhaled a collective sigh of relief. And among those who benefited most from the end of the war were the Tamil civilians themselves,liberated from the grip of a violent separatist movement and given an opportunity to reintegrate into national life. Today, Tamils are an integral part of Sri Lanka’s social, economic, and political fabric, entitled to equal protection under the Constitution.

Let me be clear, Sri Lanka is not a perfect nation, but is there any country in the world that is? What we are is a functioning democracy with universal franchise, free healthcare, free education, and a social safety net that does not discriminate between ethnic or religious groups. Sri Lanka is a nation in progress rebuilding from the past, and striving to ensure that all its citizens enjoy peace, dignity, and equality.

No one denies that there was collateral damage during the final stages of the war. War is, by nature, tragic. But the fact remains: the State of Sri Lanka worked tirelessly to protect and support the entrapped civilian population, even while knowing that a portion of those resources would inevitably be diverted by the LTTE to fuel its war machinery. Throughout the conflict, the government ensured the delivery of food, medicine, and essential services via a dedicated Essential Services Department headed by a Commissioner. Through government agents operating in LTTE controlled areas, free public services including healthcare and education, were continued.

That is why, in the final phase of the conflict, it was the civilians who ran towards the Sri Lankan armed forces, not away from them. They knew where safety lay even while the LTTE was using them as human shields until the very last moment.

With all our faults, Sri Lanka is not an apartheid state. We did not conquer someone else’s land. We defended our territorial integrity. We did not starve our people, nor does our Constitution permit us to do so.

Despite the LTTE’s defeat, its vast international network which raised funds, procured arms, and lobbied foreign governments remains active in different avatars. Many of these actors, operating under the guise of human rights activism, continue to promote a separatist agenda, misleading a new generation of youth and perpetuating divisions. And yet, how many of them have been sanctioned, prosecuted, or even called out by the very countries that now rush to impose one-sided sanctions on Sri Lanka’s war veterans?

This is the hypocrisy we must confront.

Sri Lanka chose a path of reconciliation. We did not prosecute 12,197 surrendered LTTE cadres. Instead, we rehabilitated them, gave them a second chance, and reintegrated them into society. In recent years, nearly 27 convicted LTTE operatives including those responsible for the Central Bank bombing were pardoned by the President in an effort to build trust, promote reconciliation, and move forward as a united nation.

Reconciliation takes time. It requires patience, understanding, and a collective effort from all communities. It cannot be achieved through external pressure, selective condemnation, or unilateral sanctions that only serve to embolden extremist voices and satisfy diaspora vote-bank politics abroad.

The call to release convicted LTTE members as “political prisoners” while simultaneously punishing those who fought to liberate our nation from terrorism is not only unjust, it is profoundly immoral. It ignores the suffering of all Sri Lankans and undermines the sacrifices made to restore peace.

When the war was on, we all suffered. When the war ended, that suffering ended. What we need now is not a return to the dark days of division, but a determined march towards a future where we address the genuine grievances of our people Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim, Burgher, and others, not through the lens of separatism, but through unity, equality, and justice.

Let us reject extremism in all its forms, let us not get caught to the vicious agenda of few separatist diaspora ideologies, resist the distortions of the past, and work together to build a Sri Lanka that celebrates its diversity and stands tall as one nation.

[Rishi @Rishi_BM]

Another great analogy from the Industry minister / NPP Economic council member that brought you “OK Machan debt restructuring” method.
🤦‍♂️

[Milinda Rajapaksha @milindarj]

1/2 එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානය සමඟ පැවති යුද්ධයේදී මානව හිමිකම් උල්ලංඝනය කිරීමේ චෝදනා මතශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ හිටපු ආරක්ෂක මාණ්ඩලික ප්‍රධානී ශවෙන්ද්‍ර සිල්වා, හිටපු නාවික හමුදාපති වසන්තකරන්නාගොඩ සහ හිටපු හමුදාපති ජගත් ජයසූරිය යන අයට බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයට ඇතුළුවීම හා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ දේපොළ අයිතිය තහනම් කිරීම් ඇතුළු සම්බාධක බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය රජය විසින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කර ඇත. අදාල චෝදනා කොතැනකවත් ඔප්පු කර නැති බවද සැලකිය යුතුය. එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානයට එරෙහිව යුද්ධ කිරීමට තීරණය කළේ එකළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විධායක ජනාධිපතිවරයා වූ මමය, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සන්නද්ධ හමුදා එම තීරණය ක්‍රියාත්මක කළහ.

2002 සටන් විරාම ගිවිසුම තිබියදීත්, 2002 පෙබරවාරි සිට 2005 සැප්තැම්බර් අවසානය වෙන විට එල් ල්ටීටට සංවිධානය විසින් ඝාතන 363 ක් සිදු කර තිබුණි. 2005 නොවැම්බර් මාසයේදී මා ජනාධිපති ධූරයට පත්වීමෙන් පසු, එල් ටී ටීථි ප්‍රහාර උත්සන්න විය. පිගේ ජනධිපති ධුරයේ මුල් මාස කිහිපය ඇතුලත සිදු වූ බරපතලම ප්‍රහාර අතර 2005 දෙසැම්බර් 4 සහ 6 යන දිනවල යාපනයේදී ක්ලේමෝ බෝම්බ දෙකකින් සොල්දාදුව���් දහතුන් දෙනෙකු මිය යැම, 2006 ජනවාරි 5 වන දින නාවික යාත්‍රාවකට එල්ල වූ කොටි මරාගෙන මැරෙන ප්‍රහාරයකින් නාවික භටයින් 15 දෙනෙකු මිය යැම, සහ 2006 අප්‍රේල් මාසයේදී හමුදා මූලස්ථානය තුළ හමුදාපතිවරයාට එල්ල වූ මරාගෙන මැරෙන ප්‍රහාරය වැනි සිද්ධීන් වේ.

මේ සියල්ල සිදු වී තිබියදීත්, සාමය පවත්වාගෙන යැම සඳහා පිගේ රජය 2006 ජනවාරි සහ ජුනි මාසවලදී පිනිවා සහ ඔස්ලෝ හිදී සාම සාකච්ජා වට දෙකක් පැවැත්වූ අතර ඒ සාකව්වා ව�� දෙකම එල්ටීටීඊය විසින් ඒක පාර්ශ්විකව නතර කරන ලදී. යුද්ධය නැවත ආරම්භ කිරීමට පිට සිදු වුයේ 2006 ජුනි මාසයේදී කැබිති ගොල්ලාවේදී සාමාන්‍ය සිවිල් වැසියන් ගමන් කළ බස් රථයකට එල්ල වූ එල් ටී ටීරි බිම් බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයෙන් 64 දෙනෙකු මිය ගොස් 86 දෙනෙකුට බරපතල තුවාල සිදු වූ පසුවය. ඒ සිද්ධියෙන් මිය ගිය බොහෝ දෙනෙක් ළමයින් වූහ. 2006 ජුලි මාසයේදී එල්ටීටීඊය මාවිල් ආරු සොරොව්ව වසා දමා ත්‍රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ ගොවි ජනතාවට වාරි ජලය සැපයීම නතර කළ අවස්ථාවේ සිට හමුදා මෙහෙයුම් ආරම්භ වූ අතර 2009 මැයි 19 වන දින එල්ටීටීඊය සම්පූර්ණයෙන් ව පරාජය කරන තෙක් එම මෙහෙයුම් නතර නොවීය.

යුද්ධය අතරතුර මහා පරිමාණ මානව හිමිකම් උල්ලංඝනය කිරීම සිදු වූ බවට බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ රජය කරන චෝදනාව මම තරයේ ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරමි. 2017 ඔක්තෝබර් 12 වන දින නේස්බි සාමි වරයා, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය සාමි මන්ත්‍රී මණ්ඩලයේ කළ දේශනයකදී, එවකට ක���ළඹ සිටි බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ ආරක්ෂක කටයුතු පිළිබඳ තානාපති නිලධාරියා වූ ලුතිනන් කර්නල් ඇන්ටන් ගැෂ් ශ්‍රී ලංකා හමුදාවේ විනය ඉහළින් අගය කළ බවත් සිවිල් වැසියන් ඝාතනය කිරීමේ ප්‍රතිපත්තියක හමුදාව කිසිසේත්ම නොසිටි බවත් තමාට පැවසූ ආකාරය සිහිපත් කර සිටියේය. ලුතිනන් කර්නල් ඇන්ටන් ගැෂ් යුද කාලයේ ලන්ඩන් වලට යැවු වාර්තා වල අන්තර්ගතය, බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ දේශපාලන බලධාරීන් ප්‍රවර්ධනය කරමින් සිටින මතයට වඩා සැලකිය යුතු ලෙස වෙනස් වන නිසා. එම වාර්තාවල දැඩි ලෙස සංස්කරණය කරන ලද අනුවාදයක් පමණක් ප්‍රසිද්ධ කර ඇත. අපි යුද්ධ කළේ දෙමළ ජනතාවට එරෙහිව නොව එල් ටීටීඊ සංවිධානයට එරෙහිව පමණක් බව මම අවධාරණය කරමි.

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

There are fears for dozens of workers after a tower under construction collapsed in Thailand's capital Bangkok due to two powerful earthquakes in neighbouring Myanmar.

[Jamila Husain @Jamz5251]

MR strikes!

Speaking to Daily Mirror, war time Pres Mahinda Rajapaksa accused the UK of maintaining a double standard by sanctioning SL military figures while the LTTE remains a banned terrorist organization in UK

Says he will standby SL's military leaders for ending the war

[Concerned Citizen @BGatesIsaPyscho]

Egyptian Doctor brings still born baby back to life ❤️

[Dasuni Athauda @AthaudaDasuni]

‼️BREAKING

“As of today there will only be two genders in America - Male and Female.”

- @realDonaldTrump issues a big blow to the LGBTQIA+ community by saying he will not recognize any gender apart from male and female genders/sexes.

#DonaldTrump #Trump #lka #SriLanka

[Jinath Premaratne @jinath]

When he is in front of his master and when he is not. 🤣
That’s why we call them කයියෝ.
#lka #npp #ivp

[Yasiru @YRanaraja]

Let anyone take the credit but this is how Hambantota Port looked like in 2008, Till @PresRajapaksa saw it’s potential, and building port changed regional geopolitics, ship routes, besides you have no idea what it will be in the future. https://t.co/mqu6Ypn8id

[Shanika Sriyananda @ShanikaPS]

They said SL would be a Chinese colony but when sitting on that 'hot seat' , reality is different. Truth understood.
Prezy AKD talked to renowned Chinese firms China Com Construction Ltd, China Petrochemical Corp, Metallurgical Corp of China Ltd, Huawei etc. to woo investments

[Shanika Sriyananda @ShanikaPS]

After 76 years ... it is on

#NPP

[Evil Savior @EvilSavior7]

#NPP getting things run

After 76 years

[Shanika Sriyananda @ShanikaPS]

Visit this beautiful island nation

#visitSL

[Gita Rachel Mathew @gita_mathew]

Kandy, the gem of Sri Lanka, where the hills embrace the sky
🌺❤️
#VisitSriLanka
🎥 Credit : IG chathush_boy

[Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka @ChinaEmbSL]

🇨🇳🤝🇱🇰Chinese President Xi Jinping held a welcoming ceremony for Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in the Great Hall of the People in the afternoon on January 15. A 21-gun salute was fired in Tiananmen Square. The two presidents reviewed the guard of honor of the PLA. Video:

[Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 @jacksonhinkle]

🚨🇺🇸🇮🇱 BREAKING: Journalist Sam Husseini (@samhusseini) gets DRAGGED out of White House Press Briefing while calling out GAZA GENOCIDE & telling Blinken he should be IMPRISONED in the HAGUE!

[Shanika Sriyananda @ShanikaPS]

FR to invalidate SL- Adani agreement to hear on May 23

The Court of Appeal has moved the Fundamental Rights (FR) petitions filed seeking an order to invalidate the agreement reached by the SL Govt with Indian Adani Green Energy for a wind power project to 23 May 2025

[Shanika Sriyananda @ShanikaPS]

Sri Lanka secures a US$ 3.7 Billion FDI

[Sri Lanka Tweet 🇱🇰 @SriLankaTweet]

Sri Lanka secures a historic US$ 3.7 Billion FDI during President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's China visit, paving the way for a 200,000-barrel oil refinery in Hambantota by Sinopec, set to boost exports & transform the economy. 🇨🇳🇱🇰
#LKA #SriLanka
US$ 3.7 Billion Foreign Direct Investment Secured During President's First State Visit to China 👏👏👏

During President Anura Kumara Disanayake’s four-day state visit to China, Sri Lanka marked a significant milestone by securing the largest foreign direct investment to date.
This significant achievement was formalized this morning (16) with the signing of an agreement between Sri Lanka's Ministry of Energy and Sinopec, a leading Chinese international petroleum corporation.

Under this $3.7 billion investment, a state-of-the-art oil refinery with a capacity of 200,000 barrels will be constructed in the Hambantota region. A substantial portion of the refinery’s output is planned for export, further enhancing the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.
This major investment from China is expected to bolster Sri Lanka’s economic growth while uplifting the livelihoods of low-income communities in the Hambantota area. Moreover, the benefits of this project are anticipated to positively impact the overall Sri Lankan population in the near future.
The signing ceremony was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Labour and Tourism Vijitha Herath, Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation Bimal Rathnayake and Director General of Government Information H. S. K. J. Bandara, alongside other dignitaries.

[Shanika Sriyananda @ShanikaPS]

Sri Lankan who invented world’s first red basmathi type rice

https://t.co/xIsSz9yXRQ

[Shanika Sriyananda @ShanikaPS]

Govt. to recover Rs. 5 b from tax evading companies
https://t.co/2psIqDMRTg

[Shanika Sriyananda @ShanikaPS]

China says ready to usher new era of development in Sri Lanka
https://t.co/kCRASP03Vp

[Shanika Sriyananda @ShanikaPS]

"What is life", each person on this earth is waiting to find an answer.

[Zafar Mirzo | Quotes @ZafarMirzoQuote]

"For each person, it is necessary to find a reasonable answer to the most important questions: "What is life? What are the criteria for a right life?". - Zafar Mirzo @zafarmirzo