COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government plans to compile a “comprehensive and unbiased” history of the 30-year civil war during which the Tamil Tigers fought for a separate homeland in the country’s north.

According to reliable sources, President Mait­hripala Sirisena has proposed the formation of a team of non-military persons to write a history of the conflict which convulsed the nation for three decades.

Generals who took part in operations against the LTTE will not be allowed to “play a role in the actual writing” in order to ensure publication of an unbiased account.

The president’s stress on impartiality is being seen as a step to boost his credentials as a leader acceptable to all sides in the build-up to the 2020 presidential elections.

Defence Secretary Gota­baya Rajapaksa, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is likely to be his main rival. Gotabaya is idolised as a war hero by the Sinhalas.

Although some generals and journalists have written about the war, most of these accounts have been dismissed by scholars as sketchy and prejudiced.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2018