The civil war ended with the destruction of the rebel group LTTE (mainly Tamil and Hindu) by the government (mainly Sinhalese and Buddhist), but inter-ethnic and inter-religious grievances continued to fester, since both the LTTE and government conducted themselves in ways that made lots of enemies and reinforced hatred among those who already subscribed to hate, and the government since then has not done much for reconciliation (as opposed to treatment of minorities that they commonly see as making them second class citizens under suspicion). Members of smaller religions (Muslim and Christian) have not escaped being targeted by bigotry.
So sad. At least 4 US citizens died, but the death toll is now over about 320, and several other bombs on delayed timers were discovered. Glad there was not more killing. Reports are that this was in retaliation for the bombings in New Zealand.
Come to think of it, how much attention did the New Zealand attack get on cc? A 3 page thread. Similar to this one, it seems.
Replies to: Mass shooting in New Zealand mosque (can’t get the link to work on the ipad )
Random thought- with many countries/cities changing names, would where have been any additional response here if the older posters recognized the island by its previous name- Ceylon?
So? It’s not a country familiar to many, and those of us on the more “senior” side here may be familiar with the old name. The only time I hear of Sri Lanka are from the relatives who have the beach house there and the weather maps when I am overseas. I’d wager many were completely unfamiliar with it until this past weekend.
And Myanmar was Burma, Iran was Persia, and then all the African countries and Indian cities with name changes. The ones that are more often in the news are more familiar to most (eg Iran- few remember or think of Persia) but for those under the news radar, like Sri Lanka, the situation may differ for the older generations.
I don’t think the lack of posts means that people do not care, just that is easier to post about the destruction of a building then the loss of human lives. I have a lot to say about Notre Dame. But when it comes to my fellow Christians being slaughtered, I have no words.
A building can be fixed. I find the comments by some in the public eye so disheartening and insulting it has taken away the attention. Christians attending church. That’s what they were.
One of my relatives who just left Sri Lanka to head home, posted that to put it in perspective, the percentage of the Sri Lankan population killed on Easter was greater than the percentage of the American population killed on 9/11. That was an interesting perspective.
The carnage done in Sri Lanka was over what appears to be a rather large area as well. To me what made 9/11 so memorable was how it happened totally without warning. Sri Lanka has been in the midst of a civil war for 26+ years from what I’ve read.
The social media blackout is because there is a history of communal instigation in the country. We have family there and communicate via WhatsApp mostly. We are still getting some news because some of them are using a vpn. There was another social media blackout March last year when there was Buddhist on Muslim violence, followed by Muslim on Buddhist retaliation. The civil war ended 10 years ago but there are still tensions.
Unfortunately, it looks like the dysfunctional government rift between the President and the Prime Minister has allowed security lapses to occur, with terrible consequences.
The name of Sri Lanka should be familiar to anybody that has paid any attention to world news for the last 30 years. The anti Tamil riots of 1983, the 26 year long civil war, the assasination of the ex Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, the 2004 tsunami made world wide headline news.
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