Sri Lanka has faced the full wrath of conflict in its brief post-independence history! Notwithstanding that this maybe common to struggling and developing nations, this progressive, democratic and almost 100% literate nation has suffered like no other. Earlier this year, on 21st of April 2019, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital Colombo were targeted that turned out to be a series of coordinated suicide bombings. It was Easter Sunday. Later that same day, there were smaller explosions at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. Approximately over 350 died! While difficult to estimate, the 26-year long Sri Lankan civil war is said to have taken over 100,000 lives. Although comparisons are hard but such a high number of deaths in one unfortunate event is catastrophic! Especially when the internal conflict at-least that between the government and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) had officially ended in 2009. What happened? The answer: poor execution of national unity particularly considering that it should have been one of the major lessons learnt out of the long drawn civil war. Consider – first, the underlying cause of the original conflict and second, why this can happen again and how can it be stopped. Before 1948, UK held sway in Ceylon – now called Sri Lanka – as part of its empire in the Asian sub-continent. In order to neutralise the local Sinhalese population, the British located a large number of Indian Tamils to the island. Because social integration and national unity was far from their minds, different ethnicities existed in isolation. Then came independence in 1948 and the birth of Sri Lanka. In knee-jerk fashion, and in the absence of any national and social harmony, the Sinhalese majority immediately began to pass laws that discriminated against Tamils. They made Sinhalese the official language, driving Tamils out of the civil service. In one fell swoop, the Tamils went from favoured to ostracized. Similar actions followed but the final seed of chaos was sowed when the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 effectively barred Indian Tamils from holding citizenship, making stateless people out of some 700,000! Ethnic tensions kept simmering for decades afterwards, until a low-level insurgency started in July 1983. Previous op-eds have suggested that insurgency is signified by and defined as a power asymmetry between two aggressive and belligerent groups. The stronger group is mostly the government or the state, while the weaker of the two groups is generally tagged as insurgents. In Sri Lanka’s case, it was also a classic story of a power struggle where the insurgents – the LTTE – wanted to use all means necessary to change the dynamics of influence to gain the upper hand and usurp power away from the government. To that end, and in that fateful month of July, ethnic riots broke out in major cities. Tamil Tiger insurgents killed around 13 army soldiers, prompting violent reprisals against Tamil civilians by their Sinhalese neighbours. The same neighbours who were blissful previously! Approximately 3,000 Tamils died but many more fled to Tamil majority areas. This was dubbed the First Eelam War with the aim of creating a separate Tamil state in northern Sri Lanka called Eelam. Though, much of the initial fighting was internal to the Tamils with the objective of the Tamil Tigers to consolidate their grip on the separatist movement. Which they did by 1986. This has also become a clear and present danger owing to what Thomas Friedman calls the three democratisations of information, technology and finance. Especially in the hands of global and regional radicalisation outfits such as ISIS, Islamic State and extremist elements within the Tawheed Movement. Therefore, Sri Lanka should be weary of going back to the dark and difficult days of the 80s During the time that government was fighting the LTTE, the powers to be probably had a good plan to win the war but unfortunately missed the boat when it came to winning the peace! Something that had to be done in the form of ensuring national harmony, which was probably the primary reason for the insurgency to start effectively in 1983 in the first place. In-fact correct and efficient nation building since independence may have even staved off the conflict with the LTTE originally. But more significantly – it can still help to avoid a repeat of the same decades long struggle but this time in the shape of simmering Muslim discontent in Sri Lanka! This has also become a clear and present danger owing to what Thomas Friedman calls the three democratisations of information, technology and finance. Especially in the hands of global and regional radicalisation outfits such as ISIS, Islamic State and extremist elements within the Tawheed Movement. Therefore, Sri Lanka should be weary of going back to the dark and difficult days of the 80s. How can this be avoided? Only by one sure-fire way – nation building through a rebooted national security framework for Sri Lanka! Originally, this includes one over-encompassing national identity of a ‘Sri Lanka-Sri Lanka’ which gives inspiration to the Sri Lankan national purpose – a united, democratic and just people regardless of language, culture, race and religion. Then, the listed national purpose links to three core national interests. First, Sri Lanka should become a harmonious country nation-wide. Second, it must develop into a secure state especially with regards to its economy, territory, society and citizens. Third, create favourable external conditions by acting as a democratic and credible partner and promoting an ethically firm and law-abiding world. Lastly, these stated national interests are to be protected by the Sri Lankan national security policy which epitomised in one sentence is this – peaceful existence, internally first and externally second, by ensuring upward economic and social mobility via regional and global harmony. Anything short of this will be an un-mitigated disaster! And in line with George Santayana’s words – those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Thus, Sri Lanka must exorcise its policy demons of the past in order to build a vibrant and strong future for generations to come! The writer is Director Programmes for an international ICT organization based in the UK and writes on corporate strategy, socio-economic and geopolitical issues