This article generally focuses on the process of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) which are essential to restore sustainable peace in the post-war scenario. The DDR is one of the significant aspects of the process of post-war peacebuilding. In most of the cases, this process has implemented with the assistance of foreign governments and international or regional institutions. However, the circumstances under which the Government of Sri Lanka happened to take over the sole responsibility for implementing the DDR process have raised serious concerns both at the local and international level. Hence, this article attempts to conduct a detailed inquiry of the DDR process implemented in Sri Lanka after the end of the civil war. This article followed a descriptive method of investigation. The findings of the study show that the DDR process was not fully implemented in a broad manner in the Sri Lankan context, but only served as a continuation of the military victory over the LTTE. In particular, not much attention was paid to disarming and demobilizing the armed groups, and only the so-called DDR process took place without international assistance and supervision.

This study aims to identify the factors preventing the state from responding in a manner that will avoid future conflict in post-civil war Sri Lanka. After the government ended the separatist struggle of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by bringing the civil war to an end in May 2009, the protracted and destructive 30-year war presented an opportunity for both state and society to learn many useful lessons from the long war. These lessons could have enabled the government to reconstitute the state as an inclusive institution, one in which minorities could also participate to ensure just and equitable development for all Sri Lankans. This study uses a qualitative research approach that involves analysis of critical categories. Findings of this study offer some crucial insights about Sri Lanka’s ethnic politics, particularly, the various factors have influenced the state to avoid inclusive policies. The key factor is the dilemma of post-independent political culture or traditions amongst ruling elites resulted in the avoidance of inclusive policies. This study also reveals some other factors that contestations between different social forces within society, within the state, and between the state and society still prevail in Sri Lanka, hampering the institution of inclusive policies. Further, the paper highlights the failure of India and the International Community to pressurize the state of Sri Lanka to introduce inclusive mechanisms due to international power balance (China factor).

Many observers view the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009 as a significant turning point in the protracted ethnic conflict that was troubling Sri Lanka. The armed struggle and the consequences of war have encouraged the state and society to address the group rights of ethnic minorities and move forward towards state reconstitution. The Tamil minority and international community expect that the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) must introduce inclusive policies as a solution to the ethnic conflict. They believe the state should take measures to avoid another major contestation through the lessons learned from the civil war. The study is a qualitative analysis based on text analysis. In this backdrop, this paper examines the attempts made for the inclusion of minorities into the state system in post-civil war Sri Lanka, which would contribute to finding a resolution to the ethnic conflict. The study reveals that numerous attempts were made at various periods to introduce inclusive policies to achieve state reconstitution, but those initiatives failed to deliver sustainable peace. The study also explores problems pertaining to contemporary policy attempts.