Paper short abstract:

With the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka in May 2009, tens of thousands of Tamil Tiger (or LTTE) militants were killed, captured, or surrendered to the Sri Lankan military. This paper, based on field research with former LTTE combatants in Sri Lanka, argues that the government's purported rehabilitation program has fallen far short of its stated goals.

Paper long abstract:

With the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka in May 2009, tens of thousands of former Tamil Tiger (or LTTE) militants were killed, captured, or surrendered to the Sri Lankan military. This paper, based on field research and ethnographic interviews with former LTTE combatants in the North, argues that the government's purported rehabilitation and reintegration program has fallen far short of its stated goals. Ex-combatants who have gone through the rehabilitation programs recall days of inactivity, punctured by hours of interrogation, and minimal training (often around two weeks) in mason work, automotive mechanics, and the like. After several years of being housed in these rehabilitation centres, former combatants are released into the public with very little follow-up and very little help in terms of employment or well-being. The surveillance continues once they are released and many express a deep sense of isolation, fear, uncertainty, and loneliness. This paper, then, examines the notion of "belonging" with respect to ex-combatants in post-war Sri Lanka, and explores some of the structural constraints precluding their (re)integration into society. While based on a much larger study of post-war challenges experienced by the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, this paper focuses specifically on issues of government surveillance, as well as problems associated with social isolation and societal distrust.