When a country forgets the blood it owes its future to, it forfeits its right to lead. Sri Lanka’s hard-fought victory over the LTTE was not negotiated in ministries, broadcast from TV studios, or stitched into donor reports. It was written in blood across Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, and Elephant Pass etched into the mud by nameless soldiers who walked into fire so others could live.
And yet, as the 16th anniversary of that victory approaches on May 19, 2025, neither the President nor the Prime Minister will be present at the Cenotaph. They will not bow their heads. They will not speak their thanks. They will not face the ghosts of the fallen. This is not mere absence; it is abdication. A betrayal cloaked in protocol and laced with cowardice.
This year, the government has handed over the sacred duty of remembrance to a deputy Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd.), whose role in the 2019 Easter Sunday security failure is still a haunting national memory. That he is chosen to stand in for the Commander-in-Chief on this solemn day is not just inappropriate it is grotesque.
The fallen did not die to be commemorated in staged ceremonies. They fell in silence, in fire, in agony. They left behind grief-stricken families and a nation too quick to forget. Some of their comrades beg on street corners today. Others live in broken homes, their bodies crippled by war. Meanwhile, senior officers who escaped the battlefield enrich themselves in Colombo, their stolen valor turned into golden tickets.
Credible reports speak of LTTE assets vehicles, equipment, luxury goods confiscated and sold by those in uniform. While young soldiers bled and died, their leaders built empires. This is not hearsay. It is a symptom of systemic rot.
And yet, those who chose to attend fallen JVP commemorations on April 5 honoring insurgents who once tried to dismantle democracy with machetes now shun the memory of the soldiers who saved it. The moral inversion is staggering. What justifies silence on May 19 but applause for those who rebelled?
This is not about glorifying war. It is about honoring sacrifice. It is about looking our dead in the eye and saying we remember. When a nation cannot do even that, it does not deserve the freedoms those lives secured.
True leadership does not hide behind schedules. It shows up where it matters most. It stands by the graves of the fallen, even if the truth there is uncomfortable.
The War Heroes Commemoration is not an armed forces victory lap. It is a requiem for a generation lost—Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim. It is for the mother who buried two sons. The private who ran through gunfire. The officer who warned of ambush. It is for every breath exchanged so this country could still breathe.
They did not ask for statues. They asked to be remembered. And even that, now, is too much.
This is not nostalgia. It is reckoning. It is not romanticism. It is duty.
Let us not be a nation ruled by well-dressed cowards. Let us not permit gratitude to become seasonal, remembrance selective, and sacrifice disposable. If this silence becomes the norm, we are all complicit.
To those who gave everything your country may forget, but we will not. Your blood is in our soil. Your legacy is in our hands.
Very true when it comes to those who fell in battle . They deserve the glory and honor of being remembered!
But to me there is plenty more that has not been mentioned sufficiently or just in passing.
Firstly the Victory brought peace and normalcy back for every Citizen of Sri Lanka. No more bombs, no more terror, no more living in mortal fear!
Sri Lanka was given the golden opportunity to begin a new journey towards prosperity! A new lease of life!
Secondly whilst remembering those who made the supreme sacrifice with reverence, we should also remember those who were severely wounded in battle and survived only to live a life of living death and agony. Loss of sight, loss of limbs , loss of proper brain and bodily functions! They too must be remembered and saluted on the day of Victory.
Thirdly those who recovered and are fortunate to live a new life although haunted by memories of agonizing pain and suffering occasionally from PTSD .
Fourthly those who fought valiantly in the final battle and defeated the LTTE. They are the most prominent heros fresh in the memories of most Sri Lankans.
Finally those who fought many battles previously honourably and bravely over the decades of War and prevented final Victory for the enemy, endangering their lives and separated from their families for long periods. They (and their families) also suffered in many ways but endured and survived with Gods grace. They are also heroes and fortunate ones; who are also major contributors to the final Victory and also deserve to be remembered. They are often the Forgotten Heroes!
Those who enjoy the fruits of victory today are indebted to all the categories mentioned above.
That’s why when we Commemorate only fallen Heroes important areas of the entire “Canvas “ is sometimes obscured!
On the other hand if we call it a combined Victory and Remembrance Day it covers the whole “Landscape “.
It’s unfortunate if all do not know and understand this entire scenario.