This picture received from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence on May 18, is said to be of government soldiers inspecting the area inside the war zone near Mullaittivu. Sri Lanka's president proclaimed victory over the Tamil Tigers on Tuesday after decades of civil war, with state television showing what it said was the corpse of rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. (AFP/HO)From Japan Times:
It's over. Asia's longest running civil war has ended. After a vicious offensive by the Sri Lankan government, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have laid down their weapons. This is a long-sought end to a savage and bloody conflict. The test now is whether the Sri Lankan government will address the grievances that led the Tamils to take up arms. Will this minority be welcomed as an equal member of Sri Lankan society?
Sri Lanka, an island nation located off the southern tip of India, is a divided society. The Sinhalese majority is Buddhist and constitutes nearly three-quarters of the country's 20 million people. Tamils are Hindu and Christian, account for about 15 percent of the population and live in the north and east of the country. The Tamils have long complained of discrimination. Frustrations boiled over in 1983, with the launch of a fight for independence and the establishment of a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka.
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