The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, former Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, could be investigated for war crimes by the International Commission of Jurists (Australian section). He is accused of being in command when subordinates fired on some of the 40,000 civilians reckoned to have died during the war's final weeks.
The Australian Government can be sure that the reaction of the Sri Lankan government will be fierce.
I returned from Sri Lanka recently, having facilitated a meeting on the Church and development in Sri Lanka for Caritas Sri Lanka and its partners from Australia, Europe and the US.
I got to know and love Sri Lanka through my work for Caritas in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. In subsequent visits I was pleased to see the huge progress made through the efforts of Caritas and other agencies in serving the Sri Lankan people — people of all faiths and ethnicities — as houses were built, livelihoods restored and hope and confidence began to flourish.
It was heart-warming to see people of all faiths working together to build a better and more just Sri Lanka out of the ruins of the old.
With the end of the war, we are now in a new Sri Lanka. That war cost the country dearly in terms of lives lost, distrust sown and loss of revenue. There is still a great deal to do to build up the country, get rid of the poverty gap and heal the divisions of the past.
Sending people back home to their bombed villages with no assistance and forcing them to live under the trees with nothing is not only inhuman but, as it will be seen as collective punishment against innocent people, will sow the seeds of future discontent.
As in all wars, no matter how many victories you win or ceasefires you sign, unless work is done at the grassroots to get rid of the injustices which caused the war, unless people are treated with mercy and everyone works towards community reconciliation — unless peace with justice is put in place — then the danger of resentments spilling over into conflict will always be present.
A new development model which has reconciliation at its core is needed. As in the tsunami response, this