Post-war Sri Lanka

A conversation with Shanthi Sachithananthan

by Groundviews.org, March 17, 2010

Shanthi Sachithananthan, the Chairperson of Viluthu has been featured on Groundviews during the war. This interview, conducted in late 2009 after war’s end, considers significant developments over the course of the year including the demise of the LTTE.

Shanthi talks about the need to change the timbre of political interactions between the South and the Tamil people. She also speaks about the Tamil diaspora, noting that their tactics at the time pandered to the mindset of the Tamil people in the country. She noted that in the future, more constructive engagement was necessary, pegged to treating Tamils in Sri Lanka as agents of change, and not just as helpless victims.

Noting that post-war, there is greater space for civil society in the North and East in comparison to the South, Shanthi observes that the dominance of large political parties in the South leave no place for independent groups or smaller political parties, leading to elections where the winners are not necessarily the best candidates. In response, I asked her to imagine whether this space for dissent and democracy would have been possible under the LTTE.

Shanthi also talks about what it feels like and means to call Sri Lanka home, and using this as a metaphor, talks about the enduring need for Tamil self-determination.

• The future of the LTTE in Sri Lanka: Shanthi Sachithanandan Prominent Tamil civil society activist Shanthi Sachithanandan shares her views on the future of the LTTE in Sri Lanka. For more short videos that look at the future of the LTTE in English, Sinhala and Tamil, click on Vikalpa’s The future of the LTTE: What next? playlist. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.groundviews.org%2F2010%2F03%2F17%2Fpost-war-sri-lanka-a-conversation-with-shanthi-sachithananthan%2F'; ... Groundviews, January 21, 2009
• Prabakaran’s Role in Tamil National Struggle: Interview with Shanthi Sachithanandan Prominent Tamil civil society activist Shanthi Sachithanandan shares some views on Prabakaran’s role in the Tamil National struggle, how to bring about a just and durable solution to Sri Lanka’s violence and the implementation of the 13th Amendment. For a Sinhala version of the interview, click here and visit the Vikalpa YouTube Channel for more short... Groundviews, January 14, 2008