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Research Journal of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka- Rohana 12, 2020

party. Building bus halts and community halls in several areas of the country is
another activity to memorialize war heroism. Apart from these activities, main war

monuments have been established in Northern and Eastern part of the country
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prioritizing Puthukuduirippu, Mulliwaikkal, Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass to
remember war victory and war heroes to symbolize the defeat of the enemies of the
government which dance mainly to the tune of Sinhalese Buddhists. The military

power and the ideology promoted by the state aimed at establishing Sinhala

Buddhist Hegemony among the Minority Tamils. In this context, the perception of
the northern people of war memorial is pertinent.

Northerners' Perception of War Memories

It has been revealed the perception of conflict by the people of Northern and Eastern

parts of the country is complex. There have been supporters as well as rivals to the

LTTE dominated administration during their hey days of war. It is observed that
many of the Northerners willingly or unwillingly had to engage with LTTE during

the war. It is said that LTTE used to recruit civilians with and without their consent.
The civilians who were forcefully recruited to the organization expressed their

worries about the actions they were compelled to do during armed conflict. Their
expressions have been indicative of their repent for the acts they had done even

under forceful environment. The people who live in war-prone areas started to

commemorate their family members after the end of war individually. They have
built tombs and statues in memory of the people who lost their lives during war. The

memorials during the war time have been cleaned up by the LTTE during the war
and organized community war memorials at village levels. The war heroes'

memorials and public ceremonies have been used to attract more and more to the
organization and keep its popular base of support.

9 Main Army bases of the government during the civil war period
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