Afternoon:
10°c
Rumour has it that the war in paradise is over and the beautiful island of Sri Lanka will return to its former glory.
Its mist-veiled tea plantations and sweeping coastlines will once more be the world's favourite honeymoon destination.
At least that is what the Sri Lankan government says: the vile Tamil Tigers (LTTE) are dead, the army can return home victorious and there will be dancing in the streets. And with the arrival of the new poya moon, peace will reign. In your dreams!
I left my home in Ceylon, as it was called then, in 1964, a girl of 10; the daughter of a brave Sinhalese woman and a handsome Tamil man.
As the boat taking us to our new life pulled away from the shore, my mother wept inconsolably. When she died 35 years later, she was a woman broken by the prejudices of her countrymen.
Sri Lankans' hatred of their own people goes back a long way. In 1958, when I was four, I witnessed the burning of a Tamil man by a group of Sinhalese youths.
In the school I attended I was branded a half-caste; my mother was disowned by her Sinhalese family for bringing disgrace on them by marrying a Tamil. My father's family, equally, loathed his Sinhalese bride.
Whenever I mention my family history to my Sinhalese friends living in Britain they avert their eyes in embarrassment. That was a long time ago, things have changed, they mumble.
They go on to speak of their hurt at the way the British media portray their country. Yet this month alone Amnesty has devoted four pages of its magazine to human rights abuse in Sri Lanka by both the government and the LTTE.
Yesterday, on a showery May morning, the mood among the Sri Lankan Tamils demonstrating in Parliament Square was sombre. A woman held a doll in her arms, screaming. A young girl told me she simply wanted the British Government to keep the humanitarian crisis in the news.
For make no mistake, the war in my homeland is not over, simply entering another phase. The 100,000 dead will multiply in collective memory. Hatred will go underground. People will not forget the injustices of what has been done to ordinary civilians.
Think about it: if your home is burgled, do you not feel violated? Imagine your home destroyed by a self-righteous army, your favourite possessions trampled on. What does such an event do to you? What does such a brutalising experience do for the perpetrators of such a crime?
What will we have at the end of this hollow, bloody victory is a damaged nation. Young refugees look out over barbed-wire fences.
Maybe they will be rehoused, maybe the government will, as promised, begin a peace plan. But who will give back the dead children to their mothers? Memory is an infinite thing here, as vast as the tropical sky. No government can deal with such damage.
There is one small ray of hope. The LTTE has suffered a devastating blow and the time has now come for the government elected by the people of Sri Lanka to be called to account.
It is time for the war crimes of the army to be made public, for truth and reconciliation, for international agencies to be allowed into the country; the nation must find it within itself to unite. For paradise cannot be regained by the sword.
Roma Tearne's third novel, Brixton Beach, is published next month by HarperCollins.
Reader views (16)
I was travelling that day with my Sinhalese friend from Galle. There was celebration everywhere on the roads. My friend understood that I was sad. So he did not fly the national flag on his car. He listened to my feelings. I was not sharing everything I felt. One place people stopped our car and distributed milk rice. I received it with a smile on my face but my heart was crying. To my great relief my friend told me "lets throw it. It might be unhygienic". Maybe he understood how I felt.
Thank you for the great piece of writing. We need truth and reconciliation.
- Like2beanonymous, Kandy, 18/09/2009 01:31
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War crimes in Sri Lanka = BLATANT
Oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka = blatant
Celebrations for SL army's so called victory = DISGUSTING
By the way ..GREAT ARTICLE. Personally I think its great that you have a Sinhalese and Tamil background.
I have nothing against Sinhalese people. I just don't like those racists in the government who will continue to oppress my people unless something is done.
Oh and Prabakharans not dead 
- Jdd, london, 18/09/2009 00:31
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It was not a war, it was a struggle for survival. All they wanted was to let them "BE".I understand that each one of them is going to have their own versions of this. But I live in India, I see tamils come to Indian shores on small boats in hundreds risking their lives. So why can't the western world just wake up and see what they are running away from. If you say they are running from LTTE then you must know they have the option to run to their government. But they choose to run to a country like India which calls them refugees and stacks them up in camps. Wake up people you can't pretend to not understand this genocide any longer.
- Deepa, Chennai,India, 18/09/2009 00:31
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Why people worry ?do you have anything to hide or do any body need more time to bury the thousands of Tamils who were massacred in mass graves and clean up the bloody mess before the world see what they have done to their own people. If not open the borders for independent people to investigate both Srilankan Government & LTTE and punish who ever responsible for this. It doesn’t matter this is done in US or anywhere in the world justice needs to done .Until then the curse will be on the people of srilanka.
- Shankar, Essex, 18/09/2009 00:31
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This woman will find Sri Lanka a very different place now. I am a more recent immigrant and Sinhalese. I have several very close relatives who are Tamils and let me assure there is absolute no hatred among Sinhalese towards Tamils and the Tamils that I know towards Sinhalese. It is very sad that she is seems to mention only what she believes the suffering caused by SL army on Tamils. What about atrocities of ltte that denied whole generation of tamils the freedom to choose their own destiny and recruited them to a war that they did not want to fight? Don’t you think those tamils hate your own people? Come on sister open your eyes and see, as a Singhalese I am very happy to see that everyone is safe in Sri Lanka now from terrorism. That is a fact that you cannot deny. If you want to write anything write something productive not spread non-existence hatred among people.
- Gerard, London, 18/09/2009 00:31
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I think Udara Ranasinghe is not a Sinhalese. Or either he is not in Sri Lanka. LTTE murderers who made the Tamil people suffer. Tamils were living happily with Sinhalese. The hatred was induced by the clolonial rulers. There are are many Sihnala areas under previledged. The Sinhalese in such areas have the same problems to what the Tamils face. Why the author can write on her government's war crimes of the British and American armies in Iraq and Afganistan. Do that first. Correct the army in soil where you live and then talk about the others. There is only one thing to tell these so called authors.
- Lal, Colombo Sri Lanka, 18/09/2009 00:31
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Everything you said was so true, we are a broken nation. I found it disgusting when people were celebrating in Colombo giving out free milk rice when people up north were starving for days with no food. The majority of the Sinhalese mind set has not evolved from the 1950s their children carry the same sentiments as their forefathers did which is why it is difficult for Tamils to live happily with Sinhalese people.
- Belle, Richmond, 18/09/2009 00:31
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I don’t think i agree with Belle Richmond. The longest war in Asia is over. I think Sri Lankans has a right to celebrate. I've seen people collecting money and food for the displaced people in the north. But I do agree with the "1950" comment. Just goes to show that, we have many wars to fight. Fingers Crossed, we will win them all.
- Udara Ranasinghe, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 18/09/2009 00:31
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It is a shame that people are celebrating. Should the leader not allowed a fair trial instead of being killed like animals. This is an action to hide the LTTE version of the truth. But, at the same time the govt should face war crimes.
Check out the views of professor boyle. Surely,
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29415
you can see professor boyle views on the events.
- Tamil, London, 18/09/2009 00:31
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Having endured 3 decades of agony thurst upon a nation by a single citizen has finally come to an end. One has the freedom to express ones opinions and views Sri Lanka in a negative manner like this woman has done and propagats. After Nelson Mandela's victory if South Africa and its vast majority did the same as this woman wishes, we will be playing into the hands of such hatred as this woman feels for Sri Lankans both Tamis and Sinhalese.
-Sarath, Hammersmith
- Sarath, Hammersmith, 18/09/2009 00:31
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Roma Tearne's article summarises the feelings of SENSIBLE Sri Lankans where ever they may be living.I do hope those living in Sri Lanka will realise that suppressing and killing the minorities will not lead to a prosperous country where justice prevails, people could live without fear. I doubt very much that this will come from the current government. Monks and nationalists will do whatever to prevent this.
- Nama Yoga, St.Albans,UK, 18/09/2009 00:31
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Navin is correct in that the Tamils living abroad could get at the facts. GoSL does not want the world to know the atrocities that are being or been committed.
There are more people living in fear in SL. They are unable to express themselves for fear of being kidnapped,assaulted or even murdered. What the GoSL is doing is much more worse than what Germans did to Jews nearly 60 years ago.
- Nama Yoga, St.Albans, 18/09/2009 00:31
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i only have one thing to say to all the LTTE supportrs and those eople who think there is a genaside agaist the tamils happening in sri lanka. a return plane ticket only costs £346. go to sri lanka and see the situation for yourself.
the author of this article; Roma Tearne is right, the hatred will live on, but only by the tamils living abroad.
- Navin, Leeds, 18/09/2009 00:31
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Brave woman and handsome man don't produce story telling mind.Where do you think the brain come from from? From an english school teacher who taught how to string few english words unlike those talented tamils who never had the chance of schooling except under a tree in vanni and robbed by war?You should be writing in a positive language instead of bring out the worst of human thought at a time people both of tamils and sinhalese need it s writer who can uplift the mood of the people for a better future. will you be sending some of the proceeds of sellign your novel to educate these poor whether tamil or sinhalese? But then this wound not be published.
- Vijay K Pillai, UK, 18/09/2009 00:31
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Can some body please educate me on the following questions.1 What is a war crime? (Please give details) 2.Is Govt soldier killing a civilian a war crime? 3. Is a terrorist hacking to death a small child war crime or an innocent act we should ignore? (I mean that perticular Terrorist Orgarnisation)
4 Have U.K. or U.S.A. committed war crimes in Iraq ?
5 The world has heard wierd stories and seen wierd videos from Iraq and Afganistan and Palasteine China and India and Saudi Arabia . Should they be invetigated by U.N.?.
6 Has the author ever read about authenticated litrature of genocides 100 fold more done in India and Sri Lanka?
7 Is the readers and the Author aware that racism is still very much alive in U.K and Australia .(I have not visited other countries) This I have personel expereiences. Once in C.B.D. Melbourne a white drunkan man asked me to go back to my own country in filthy words. He said he was an Australian. I told him that he should go to his own country too.
- Naomi, Melbourne Australia, 18/09/2009 00:31
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I have the exact same mentality as this author.
It is BLATANT that the Sri Lankan army have committed war crimes.
Now they have the audacity to celebrate so called victory as so many civilians lay dead. And I wonder...how many of those civilians do you think were Sinhalese? ANSWER: Probably none. The SL governments obvious plan was to 'ethnically cleanse' the country by wiping out the Tamils.
By the way I have nothing against the Sinhalese people. I just hate those racists in the government oppressing my Tamil people.
- Juma, London, 18/09/2009 00:31
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