Collaboration, suspicion and traitors: an exploratory study of intra-community relations in post-war Northern Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper explores the manner in which the post-war strategy of militarisation, in particular surveillance and the recruitment of informants used by the government to control the conflict-affected population, has impacted Tamil society in the North. This strategy, which mirrored strategies used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in areas under their control, created suspicion, deepened existing intra-community cleavages and hampered efforts to rebuild trust and social relations in post-war Northern Sri Lanka. Despite this, communities found ways to construct alternate, albeit limited, spaces of trust to foster intra-community bonds.

Keywords:

• militarisation
• suspicion
• collaboration
• traitors
• alternate spaces
• rebuilding intra-community trust
• post-war Northern Sri Lanka

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The presidential election held on 8 January 2015 was won by the common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena, and led to the installation of a new government. This was followed by parliamentary elections in August 2015, following which a coalition government led by the United National Party (UNP) came into power.

2 As of September 2015.

3 The areas formerly in the control of the LTTE are referred to as the Vanni; they consist of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Mannar.

4 Following the end of the armed conflict, the government prevented civil society from working with those disabled by the war as it was thought human rights groups would gather information on the extent of civilian casualties. The government feared this would be used to strengthen allegations that the government had violated international humanitarian and human rights law during the last phases of the war.