I come from Sri Lanka—a country that endured nearly thirty years of brutal conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The LTTE claimed to be a resistance movement, fighting for rights and dignity. But what I witnessed told a far more painful story—one that still lives inside me.

During the conflict, I saw Tamil families—friends—lose everything. I remember pickup trucks passing through our streets, carrying people who had once lived normal lives, now displaced, their homes demolished. One moment has never left me: a close Tamil friend being driven past my house, tears streaming down her cheeks. We waved at each other—silently, helplessly—not knowing if we would ever meet again.

Some sources claim that following the 1983 anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka (known as “Black July”), an estimated 400,000 to over 800,000 Sri Lankan Tamils emigrated or were displaced, sparking a massive, multi-wave exodus that formed a global diaspora.

While the immediate aftermath of the riots in July/August 1983 caused an initial exodus of around 100,000, the ensuing 26-year civil war resulted in a cumulative total exceeding 800,000 to 1 million Tamils leaving the island.

That is what terrorism does. It does not liberate. It uproots. It fractures. It leaves behind generations of trauma.

But here is something equally important—something the world often misunderstands.

A Nation That Refused to Hate

The war in Sri Lanka did not ultimately divide Tamils, Sinhalese, and Muslims at their core. We were not raised to hate one another. Even in the darkest moments, there remained an understanding—sometimes fragile, but real—that the terrorist is not the same as the community.

There were grave injustices. One of the........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)