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

ways, and opportunities for dialogue, understanding, apologizing, acknowledging,
and addressing the past violence between divided societies.

The memory initiatives can address grievances that are not captured fully by the

structures promised by the government while bringing together communities who
have suffered similar issues such as disappearances, which were common during the

30-year conflict. End of the no prisoner war and the defeat of the LTTE as the
broadest embodiment of Tamil resistance against an authoritarian and neo-colonial

Sri Lanka state left a void in the Tamil territorial and social landscape. The

destruction and the subsequent absence of Tamil war memorials of the post-war is in
itself not just an act of humiliation and subjugation of a people and a nation. With

the collapse of war memorials, the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan state was bound to
be re-established.

The Tamil war memorials as challenges and contestation to the Majority, Sinhala
state's narration of the past readers of the present were successfully erased from the

war-torn Tamil homeland and people. With the government mediated erasing of
Tamil memorials, paves the way for wholly disapproved war memorials for the post-

war Tamils in Sri Lanka.

A State can play a critical role in either healing or dividing communities, further
through any national memorialization initiatives. It takes up during their tenure in

government. To this end, successive governments must adopt a balanced approach

to memorialization, by way of a national policy on memorialization.

The memorialization can play a crucial role in this respect and is a critical hurdle to
overcome any approach to transitional justice. It can be a tool to heal, to combat

impunity and achieve durable peace where similar violence is not systematically

repeated. A sensible, sensitive, nuanced approach to memorialization can act as a
tool for reconciliation and healing.

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