"This moving report looks back through 30 years of bloodshed in Sri Lanka to place today's violence in its proper context. Why did the ceasefire, agreed two years ago, falter?

In 1956, an ambitious politician used the race card to be elected. He promised to make Sinhala the official language. Tamils who weren't fluent were dismissed, sparking a backlash that contributed to the emergence of the Tigers. In the war that followed, an estimated 40,000 disappeared. "We live in a country where anyone can take away another person, and nobody can do anything to stop it"." journeymanpictures

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History of Sri Lanka