The Peace Trap is ‘dedicated to the memory of all Indians and Sri Lankans—both Tamils and Sinhalese—who lost their lives in the tragic sequence of events that have taken place in Sri Lanka since 1983.’ This brings out the author’s deep sensitivity to the tragedy that has overtaken both Sri Lanka and India in the wake of the Sinhala-Tamil ethnic strife in our neighbouring southern state and more particularly after the Indo-Sri Lanka accord of July 29, 1987 (which saw a larger number of persons being killed on both sides since the outbreak of the ethnic conflict). It also reveals the author’s objectivity and refusal to apportion blame, knowing as he does too intimately all the actors in the game, and specially Velupillai Prabhakaran, the motivated gun-toting commander of the Liberation Tigers.
Nov-Dec 1988, volume 12, No 6