Wars do not end neatly on the battlefield, as the lives of Tamils in Sri Lanka’s north and east make evident.

On May 18, the community will mark 17 years since the end of the long and horrific civil war that radically altered their lives. With its shadow lingering, the memory of the war that the armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fought can hardly be confined to this annual commemoration. It manifests in their precarious daily lives and continues to weigh on their hopes for the future.