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

has introduced a dominant site of memory where the government dominated. The
dominant site of memory represents only heroism, and the civilian remembrance has

simply been forgotten by the memorialization process.

In the post-war scenario, the war memorialization is conducted by both parties: The
Sri Lankan government and the Tamil community. The majority Sinhalese

celebrates the war victory celebration on May 18 annually with the support of the
Sri Lankan government. They glorify the war heroism on the day of the victory

celebration. The Tamil community celebrates the war heroes on the day of

"Mahaviru", and it falls on November 27 annually to commemorate the slain LTTE
leader Prabhakaran's birthday and the LTTE carders who were killed while fighting

for Tamil Eelam. The war monuments have been constructed by both parties, and
only carders and their heroism have been glorified by both the parties using these

monuments and memorials. The monuments have been built all over the country by

the victory parties and losers. The state practice of memorialization has been
selective. Even in the Eastern and Northern regions are dotted with several war

monuments erected by the estate to glorify the victory of the armed forces and
glorify the heroism of warriors. The loss of civilian life during the war is not

accounted for any of the monuments. The civilians of the Eastern and Northern

regions have attempted to construct civilian memorials in the past. It has met with
legal injunctions. The community memorials, which were banned by the

government, serve as virtual spaces both for grief and for community gatherings.
Their memorialization of the civilians who passed away has been met with the legal

injunctions because they were a threat to the national security. The community
memorialization processes of the North and Eastern region of the country have been

banned by the state on the perception of being an attempt of glorifying the LTTE.

Though it was prohibited and banned, still civilians are awaiting to memorialize
their loved ones in the proper way. Though there are several monuments regarding

the war and celebrating the war heroism, there are only two civilian war memorials
in the Northern region of the country. Due to the memorialization of the civilians

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