[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 71 (Thursday, May 17, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H2822-H2823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1110
       THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF THE ENDING OF CIVIL WAR IN SRI LANKA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Davis) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. It is my pleasure to rise today to note the 
third anniversary of the ending of the civil war in Sri Lanka. On May 
19, 2009, a new era--an era of peace--began in this country; an era of 
hope, an era of possibility, and an era of justice with movement 
towards reconnection and reconciliation. Unfortunately, implementation 
of this new era of hope seems to be slow in coming, it seems to many 
Tamils in the country and throughout the diaspora who have lingering 
fears that governance of the country will remain closed and not as 
democratically

[[Page H2823]]

operated as they would like to see and that justice demands.
  The President of Sri Lanka started talks with the Tamil National 
Alliance, the party that has won all elections in the northeast since 
the end of the war more than a year ago. Unfortunately, these talks 
seem to have bogged down and are not progressing as was anticipated. 
Sri Lanka is a highly centralized state. The lack of control over areas 
that we take for granted, such as the police, the use of land, and the 
education system, are often cited as being one of the causes of the 
civil war. It is reported that even areas not affected by the war 
suffer from neglect by Colombo and distant government officials who 
make arbitrary decisions, as is frequently noted by the World Bank and 
others. Tensions continue to exist between the Sinhalese, who control 
the government, and the Tamils, who consider the north and east as 
their traditional homeland. It is unfortunate that after hostilities 
ended on the battlefield, they still seem to exist in many of the same 
ways that occurred before the war actually broke out.
  It is my hope that Sri Lanka will be able to work through its 
difficulties so that this beautiful country can experience the peace 
and stability its citizens rightly deserve.

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