COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — After more than a quarter-century of civil war, peace could be even more daunting for Sri Lanka.
When many in the Sinhalese majority heard that Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed Monday by government forces, they erupted in cheers, banged drums and set off fireworks.
Many in the Tamil minority, however, worried that their lives would only grow more difficult following the rebel group’s battlefield defeat.
The far different reactions underscored the difficulty Sri Lanka will have in trying to reconcile and rebuild in the wake of a civil war that has left more than 70,000 people dead.
“The general triumphalist mood is only an indication that Tamils may never get their due place,” said S. Prasanna, a sales representative.
Many other Tamils refused to speak on the record after what they said were years of police raids, harassment, arbitrary detentions and even abductions.
“I believe the arrests and detentions will only increase from now on,” a 34-year-old Tamil businessman said. “The government will be suspicious with everybody, thinking the Tigers may have come out and mingled with the civilians.”
One of the world’s most sophisticated insurgencies, the Tamil Tigers were brought down by a string of fatal misjudgments and an unrelenting government onslaught aimed at crushing the separatist rebellion at all costs.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who plans to officially declare victory today in a speech to parliament, has promised a power-sharing deal with the Tamil minority. But the end of the war, which displaced an estimated 265,000 people, could complicate efforts to forge a lasting peace.
The destruction of the rebels’ conventional forces does not mean the threat is over. Insurgents hiding in the jungles of the east have emerged periodically to attack government forces and civilians, and the rebels had sleeper cells planted in Colombo and other towns.
The Tamil Tigers also retain a vast international smuggling network and the financial support of some of the 800,000 Tamil expatriates. At least one top rebel leader, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the reputed smuggling mastermind, remains at large.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. is “relieved that the immense loss of life and killing of innocent civilians appears to be over,” and he urged Sri Lanka to build a tolerant society and help those hurt by the fighting.
