Peace Dividend

When Thavarasan Singham returned to his grocery shop in May, the shutters were still riddled with bullet holes. Back in 1990, Singham's town of Mankulam, in northern Sri Lanka, was caught in the cross fire between Tamil guerrillas and Sri Lanka's predominantly Sinhalese army. After the Tamil fighters retreated, the army drove into Mankulam. Singham knew what was coming next. Pulling down the shutters of his shop, he ran out the back door with his wife and four children, just before bullets and mortar shells burst into every store in the Tamil-dominated village. For the next 13 years, Singham, now a...