May 18, 2025 marked 16 years since the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. Two sister newspapers, privately-owned Sinhala newspaper Aruna and privately-owned Tamil newspaper Thamilan, featured conflicting views on the anniversary. Aruna viewed the war heroes’ commemoration as a “celebration” of the war victory. By contrast, Thamilan viewed the anniversary as a day on which relatives deceased during the war are “commemorated”.
