Bhiman, born to Sri Lankan parents, grew up in St. Louis and was initially inspired by Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder.

However, he has developed his own style and in his debut album called “Bhiman,” he has performed songs about oppression, identity and riding the rails.

Bhiman’s “Guttersnipe” was posted by National Geographic as on of their featured videos

New Sri Lanka Highway (Photo: BBC)

We’re on the road for the Geo Quiz, and the road we’re on is in Sri Lanka.

It’s the country’s first-ever highway. It runs north-to-south, connecting two cities 75 miles apart.

One is Sri Lanka’s capital, the other is it’s southern seaport.

The four-lane highway cuts travel time.

That’s good news for merchants moving their truckloads of cinnamon, coconut, tea and rubber, to and from the capital.

Can you name the two cities this $ 700 million highway connects?

The answers are the Sri Lankan cities of Colombo and Galle. The BBC’s Charles Haviland tells anchor Lisa Mullins about his first drive on the new Sri Lankan E01 Expressway.

Archana Pathmanathan’s family lays out a table of spicy curries. (Photo: Ike Sriskandarajah)

Sri Lanka is enjoying a rare period of peace not experienced for 30 years. This new stability can be seen as the nation serves as one of the hosts for the Cricket World Cup. Cricket and the beloved national team, were among the few things that everyone from separatist Tamil rebels to the Sinhalese government could rally behind, even during the height of the South Asian country’s long civil war.

Another thing was food. To an outsider, the differences between Sinhalese and Tamil cuisine might be hard to pinpoint. But with a little training, you can taste the difference.

“We can identify the difference because we know what we’re using,” said Wiji Latha Fernando, a Sinhalese woman living in the capital, Colombo. On a recent day, she was preparing a meal with her mother, who was using a cauldron-sized mortar and pestle. “She’s pounding Maldives fish to make a dish called seeni sambol,” said Wiji.

From generation to generation

In another Colombo neighborhood, Archana Pathmanathan, was also cooking with her mom. Her family is Tamil. Like in many places, food traditions in Sri Lanka are passed down mother to daughter. Every family has its own way of doing things. Still, Wiji and Archana both said you can make some generalizations about Sinhalese versus Tamil cooking.

“Sinhalese food uses more black pepper. Tamils, red chili powder,” Archana said. “Tamils use gingelly oil, but Sinhalese use coconut oil,” said Wiji.

Then there are the speciality items.

“Tamils use Tamarind. Sinhalese use goraka,” said Archana. Goraka, a sun-dried fruit that looks like a piece of charcoal, gives a distinct sour taste, and is key to a lot of Sinhalese food, Wiji said.

Sinhalese grind it to make a paste to cook fish and other curries, like ambul thiyal, a dry rubbed fish curry. That lack of sauce is another characteristic of Sinhalese cooking — Tamil curries tend to have more gravy.

But for all these culinary differences, there is a lot of overlap. After all, the two ethnicities have lived together for millennia on the island, through Tamil kingdoms, Sinhalese kingdoms, and three European colonial rulers.

The secret ingredient

Archana pointed out that their cuisines intersect on one ubiquitous ingredient: “To all foods, it’s a must that we add coconut. Either coconut scrapings or coconut milk to curries. Maybe there’s too much of coconuts here,” she joked.

Like the use of coconut, the shared parts of Sri Lankan culture endured through Sri Lanka’s civil war. You could see that during cricket matches, where even Tamil rebels would trade their jungle camouflage for national jerseys.

You could see it at Tamil Hindu temples where Sinhalese Buddhists would come to worship. And you could see it on any dinner table.

“Maybe we got adapted to Sinhalese food and they got adapted to Tamil food,” Archana said. Wiji added that when you went to Tamil shops, you would see Sinhalese flocking there. “Sinhalese people, they love to eat Tamil food,” she said.

And while they might disagree over black pepper or chili, dry curries or wet, they agree on one thing: They will tell you the food here is hotter and tastier than what’s made in India. “Indians don’t make it very hot,” Wiji said. It’s too watery, Archana added.

The two are united in a love for Sri Lanka cuisine and disdain for what they see as an inferior product.

Archana’s (Tamil) Chicken curry

Ingredients :
Chicken 2 lbs
Sesame Oil 2 tbsp
Cinnamon 1
Cloves 2
Star Anise 1
Black stone flower: little ( the black colored spinach like the one you get along with biriyani masalas)

Archana Pathmanathan explains the Tamil way of cooking alongside her mom and aunt. (Photo: Ike Sriskandarajah)

Onion 1 chopped
Ginger Garlic paste 2 tbsp
Tomato 1 quartered
Turmeric Powder 1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves 1 sprig
Salt to taste
Red Chili Powder 3 tsp
Coriander Powder 3 tsp
Water 2 cups
Coriander Leaves Chopped 5 tbsp

To Grind:
Grated Coconut 5 tbsp

To Crush:
Cumin seeds: 2 tsp
Pepper corn: 1 tsp
Onion: 1 finely chopped

Directions:
Cut chicken into small pieces, clean well in water and keep it aside.
Fry finely chopped onion, pepper corn and cumin seed in oil until onion is translucent, allow it to cool down and grind into fine paste.
Grind the coconut into fine paste.
In a pressure cooker, add sesame oil, cinnamon, cloves, star anise and black stone flower. Immediately add the chopped onion and fry till translucent. Add Ginger Garlic paste and fry until no longer it smells raw. Add the ground onion paste from above and , tomato and fry for a minute. Add Chicken, turmeric, curry leaves and salt and fry for 2 – 3 minutes. Add chili powder, coriander powder and mix well. Allow this to cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the ground coconut paste, water 1 or 2 cups as required and close the lid. Allow it for 3 whistles and take out from the fire. After the pressure is released from the pressure cooker, open the lid and add coriander leaves.

Wiji’s (Sinhalese) Ambul Thiyal

Ingredients:
1 lb. fish (tuna)

Wiji Fernando and her mom, Roslyn Weeratunga, prepare a dish called Seeni Sambol. Seeni means sugary, but the dish, made of caramelized onions, chilies, and pounded Maldive fish, is more hot than sweet. (Photo: Ike Sriskandarajah)

3 cloves garlic chopped
2-inch piece ginger chopped
10 dry chilies (roasted and ground)
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. fenugreek
5 pieces goraka
1 tsp. salt
1 onion, finely chopped
1-inch stick cinnamon
2 small sprig curry leaves
1-inch piece of rampa
1/2 cup water
1 little onion

Directions
First wash the fish and cut it into 1-inch cubes and put them in a pan.
Place the garlic, ginger, black pepper, fenugreek, goraka and salt into a food processor or blender and grind into a thick paste. Add a little water if necessary. Add water and remaining ingredients to the fish and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer until the gravy is dry.

(flickr image: trokilinochchi)

So where is this jungle that was only recently a war zone?

Tamil Tigers loading a ship at Mullaitivu in 2003 (Photo:Isak Berntsen)

Human rights advocates say thousands of civilians were killed here in government shelling. Now, the Sri Lankan government wants to rehabilitate the one-time war zone. It says it will designate about 100,000 forested acres as a nature preserve.

The BBC’s Elettra Neysmith has details:

“The jungles of Mullaitivu were at the heart of the Tamil Tiger insurgency. For decades it was home to key rebel bases and was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war. But 18 months after government forces finally defeated the rebels, the area has been declared a wildlife sanctuary. A government statement said it would be used to help Sri Lanka’s elephant population which has dwindled over the last century from 15,000 in 1900, to just 4,000 today. As deforestation destroys their natural habitats, the elephants venture out in search of food. The government say more than 200 of them were killed last year — electrocuted or shot by villagers in an entirely different sort of conflict.”

The jungles of Mullaitivu were heavily mined during Sri Lanka’s civil war. The government estimates “hundreds of thousands of landmines” will need to be cleared. Officials hope the sanctuary will eventually attract much needed eco-tourism dollars.

• CBC coverage
• Vancouver Sun story

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JEB SHARP: I’m Jeb Sharp and this is The World. A ship carrying hundreds of refugees from Sri Lanka reached Canada’s western shores today. The vessel was allowed to dock at a Canadian naval base in British Columbia. US and Canadian authorities have been following the ship’s approach for days. They’re concerned that members of the Tamil Tigers may be onboard. Both the United States and Canada consider the Tamil Tiger militant group to be a terrorist organization. The group waged war for decades against Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese-dominated government. But the Tigers were crushed last year in a bloody offensive that left thousands dead. The CBC’s Curt Petrovich is following the story now unfolding in Western Canada. Earlier today he was aboard a boat next to the migrant’s vessel, the Sun Sea.

CURT PETROVICH:  It’s rusty. It looks impossibly small to hold what we are told is nearly 500 people who’ve been on that vessel for perhaps four months. It wasn’t nearly allowed to dock here. It was escorted here by the Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and since it’s been docked, tied up to a refueling jetty, there’s been a bustle of activity on the deck. And what we’ve seen are Canada Border Service Agents and RCMP, many wearing surgical masks, some wearing gloves, coming and going. We saw a crew of armed police officers leaving shortly after the vessel docked. They were carrying what looked like assault rifles. We’ve also seen people coming off the boat carrying what looked like water and food containers.

SHARP:  And what happens next to those people? What is at least the official plan?

PETROVICH: First of all, those who require any kind of medical attention will be taken to a hospital. But all of them will be detained in a series of jail cells that have been set up. They can expect to be detained for some months as they undergo the hearings and evaluation to determine whether or not they have a legitimate claim to refugee status. And then the hearings themselves to determine whether or not those claims of persecution are valid could take years.

SHARP: And what is Canada’s policy regarding the Tamil Tigers?

PETROVICH: Well, the policy is that it is a banned terrorist organization. But Canada’s in this position where it is getting intelligence and encouragement from the government of Sri Lanka and other security experts who say, well there are those onboard this vessel who are not only members of the Tamil Tigers, but this is a human smuggling operation. So right off the bat, it’s a criminal operation. But the Federal Public Safety Minister in Canada is in a tight spot. He’s telling the world essentially that he wants to send a message through this incident that Canada will respond harshly to those involved in criminal activity such as human smuggling. But he also has a boatload of people who, while they may have participated in a criminal operation by paying tens of thousands of dollars each for passage to Canada, they are still potentially people who deserve refugee protection.

SHARP: And it’s interesting. In fact, Australia had turned this ship away and it ended up on Canadian soil or waters. There are reports there are more ships on the way. Do you think the Canadian government might refuse entry?

PETROVICH: We’ve heard our Public Safety Minister say that for legal reasons the best way to deal with vessels that are destined for Canada of this sort is to allow them to enter Canada’s territorial waters because that makes it legally easier to deal with it. But we’ve also heard them talk very loudly and acknowledge that, in fact, there are other human smugglers who are watching how this particular incident unfolds because if it is a success or deemed to be profitable, then there is the risk that Canada will be the destination for yet another ship.

SHARP: Well, and I think it’s not just the smugglers watching. In some sense everybody’s watching to see what happens and presumably that puts a lot of pressure on Canada no matter which way it goes. How do you see the implications?

PETROVICH: It does perhaps represent the beginning of a very dangerous trend if what ends up happening is ships that have been turned away from countries like Australia decide to set Canada as a destination. I think the government is mindful of that. But at the same time there is a great deal of pressure particularly from groups, in this case, like the Canadian Tamil Council who are urging calm and respect and no one to jump the gun and to say, look, these people endured a journey of some three or four months under what can only be hellish conditions. They must be running from something.

SHARP:  The CBC’s Curt Petrovich. Thanks, Curt.

PETROVICH: You’re welcome.

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It boasts magnificent Buddhist temples, and it’s surrounded by sprawling tea plantations. Tourists flock there each summer to see the Perahara. You can get up close and personal to a lavishly costumed elephant.

“This elephant has tusks about 4 feet long, his trunk right now is sweeping the ground in front of him, he’s got pile of I think these are palm leaves which are his snack before the parade.”

…so can you come up with the name of the Sri Lankan city where the festval is being held.

And the Buddhist festival called the Perahera just got underway in the city of Kandy and that’s the answer to our Quiz.

John Stifler sent us a postcard from the previous festival and, as you’ll hear it’s quite a scene. (Audio available after 5PM Eastern)

• See a video about Sonali Samarasinghe’s husband, Lasantha Wickrematunga.
• Listen to “One year later in Sri Lanka”

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MARCO WERMAN:  Sri Lanka’s 26 year civil war official ended a year ago this week.  That’s when the Sri Lankan army proclaimed victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels.  That ended the rebel drive for an independent state but, as we reported yesterday, reconciliation between the country’s Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority is still a long way off, and state of emergency remains in effect in Sri Lanka.  Sonali Samarasingha knows all too well the lingering pain of war.  She’s a Sri Lankan journalist who left her homeland a year ago.  She fled to exile after her husband, a newspaper editor who was critical of the government’s human rights record was gunned down.  Just days before, he’d written an editorial that foretold is own death.  He wrote, when finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me.  A year later his widow says little has changed in Sri Lanka.

SONALI SAMARASINGHA:  This government, this country cried for human rights or democratic values.  This would include an onslaught on independent journalist human rights activists and members of the Diaspora who would stand up and want to spotlight the human rights abuses that had been committed in the last stage of the war, so no the grip and the mentality of war, has not lessened at all.

WERMAN: Are you saying that the Sri Lankan government, as far as they’re concerned, your country is still in a state of war.

SAMARASINGHA: Absolutely.  The very first session of the new post was Parliament, in fact extended emergency regulations.  Now the war has ended, but the emergency laws continue.  The most draconian ones that allow for widespread abuses, having secret prisons, detention without charge.  All of these laws still continue.

WERMAN: So, Sonali, what has to happen in order for Sri Lanka to definitively put this war behind them?

SAMARASINGHA: I see three things that need to be done.  Number one, the emergency laws, these draconian laws must be shifted.  There has to be laws put in place that are human rights friendly.  Secondly, there has to be the full implementation of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, and this law would allow independent commissions, like the human rights commission, the bribery commission, the elections commission, the policy commission.  And the third thing that must happen is accountability.  And for that you must have independent investigations into the allegations of war crimes and, to the murder of journalists, including that of my husband.

WERMAN: Sonali, I was surprised to learn that Sri Lanka’s defense minister and another member of the cabinet are both naturalized U.S. citizens. They’re both from California.  What sort of leverage, do you think, could that give Washington if it tries to foster reconciliation and establish a dialogue with results in Sri Lanka.?

SAMARASINGHA: Marco this will give the U.S. huge leverage.  The defense minister and this cabinet minister we speak of are both brothers of the President of Sri Lanka.  The United States government should be able to hold them accountable for their actions in other countries and this should be done.

WERMAN: Now I’ve heard the story of a J.S. Tisa Anyayagam, another journalist.  He was a columnist for the English language Sri Lankan Sunday Times and in 2008 he was taken into custody and charged with inciting communal disharmony.  He’s been sentenced to 20 years in prison.  The committee to protect journalists has taken up his case.  Even President Obama has spoken out about Tisa.  So how do you actually close the circuit then, if you’ve got these two individuals in the cabinet that have U.S. connection?  The White House is speaking out about this situation.  How do you establish that dialogue?

SAMARASINGHA: It’s interesting that you mentioned Tisa’s case because on May 3rd, the new external affairs minister of Sri Lanka declared that he had received a full pardon on May 3rd, which is press freedom day.  And yet, the process has still to begin and he’s still in hiding and he’s still afraid for his life.  Let us take the case of a senior journalist Pragit Echneleyagoda [PH].  He was abducted on January 24th this year.  It is 113 days and he’s still missing and there has been no investigation whatsoever as to his whereabouts.

WERMAN: Sonali do you want to go back to Sri Lanka and what would you do there when you go back?

SAMARASINGHA: I want to go back.  I don’t feel I can.  I feel there’s an underlying threat always to journalists.  Journalists in exile, especially journalists who have focused on the war, focused on human rights abuses and are calling for independent investigation into the allegations of war crimes, cannot return to Sri Lanka.  They would face threats to their lives, or arrest.

WERMAN: Is that what you would face if you went back?

SAMARASINGHA: Absolutely.

WERMAN: Sonali Samarasingha, thank you very much for speaking with us.

SAMARASINGHA: Thank you so much Marco.

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• The World background coverage
• BBC coverage

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MARCO WERMAN:  It was a year ago today that another war in South Asia was officially declared over.  The government of Sri Lanka claimed victory in a decades old civil war with Tamil Tiger guerillas.  The Tigers had been fighting for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority.  The government is dominated by the country’s Sinhalese majority.  Its top priorities over the past year have been reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation with the Tamils.  The BBC’s Tinku Ray traveled recently to eastern Sri Lanka to see how the government is progressing.

TINKU RAY:  Construction is on at a furious pace on the rough and bumpy road to Batticaloa in eastern Sri Lanka.  Here a crew of Tamil workers is quickly and efficiently laying down tar.  Batticaloa is about 230 miles from the capital Colombo.  This area is almost all ethnic Tamils with small numbers of Sinhalese.  The mainly Sinhalese government drove out the Tamil Tigers, or LTTE, in 2007, but the town still bears scars of war.  The main road is littered with burned out and dilapidated houses.  But now, many Tamils that had moved north are returning.  Parmananda Jairani fled during the fierce fighting towards the end of the war.  Parmananda was separated from her husband during the fighting.  When she couldn’t find him, she decided to come back to Batticaloa with her three children, but it’s been difficult.  They’re dependent upon charity living in one small room with no windows or proper ventilation.  There are many other Tamil families displaced by the war living around her.  Parmananda says she wants the government to give them more aid so they can rebuild their lives.

INTERPRETER:  The government gives us rice, dal and oil.  But to buy firewood to cook on, I have to sell the rice.  The government must help us more with jobs and homes, otherwise how will we be able to live?

RAY: Despite Parmananda’s grievance, life is returning to normal for many in the region.  At a local Hindu temple, a festival is being celebrated with full joy, something that would have been next to impossible during the war.  And even though there’s a large police presence, the atmosphere seems relaxed.  New shops are popping up.  This man had just opened a new shoe store.

INTERPRETER:  During the war, we lived in fear, but now all the different communities are living together in peace.  We can now move around freely any time of the day.  I can keep my shop open all day.

RAY: At her home just outside Batticaloa, a group of former Tamil Tiger child soldiers are getting ready for a day at the beach.  They come to this home to be rehabilitated.  For these young girls and boys, it’s been difficult to forget the past.  Nila was just 15 when she joined the movement in 2005.  She told me that she’d never met a Sinhalese person or even spoken to one before she joined the Tigers.  She doesn’t believe the new peace will change anything for Tamils.

INTERPRETER:  There are still the same problems that existed before, so I don’t think Tamils will get equal rights.

RAY: So do you not trust the Sinhalese here?

INTERPRETER:  I can’t trust the Sinhalese and I’ll never be able to trust the Sinhalese.

RAY: The beach at Pasikoda, just half an hour from Batticaloa, is full of Sri Lankans enjoying the day.  There are stores run by Tamils and there are Tamil and Sinhalese families who have come for a day out. This scene would have been impossible during the civil war.  This Sinhalese man has come to the beach for the first time with his family.  He feels the situation is now stable and relations between the two communities will improve.

MALE VOICE 1:  I see a lot of bright things regarding the peace and now after the war, other people from the south can visit Tamil areas and the relationship will build and government is also helping.

RAY: Most of the people I met in Batticaloa are happy to put the violence of the past 30 years behind them and try and rebuild their lives.  A lot will depend on how quickly and well the Sri Lankan government is able to resettle and reintegrate the Tamil population back into society.  The fear is that Tamils might again feel dispossessed enough so that the Tamil Tigers will be able to return to fight once again with the support of their people.  For The World, I’m Tinku Ray in Batticaloa, eastern Sri Lanka.

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MARCO WERMAN: The civil war in Sri Lanka is over, but the work of reconciliation has barely begun.  For 25 years, Tamil Tiger rebels fought for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils.  Eighty to a hundred thousand people were killed.  Then, in May, Sri Lankan government troops routed the rebels. The war had ended and the government promised that the Tamils would be accorded equal rights as citizens. But many Tamils say they are being persecuted. Rebecca Henschke spoke with some of them in Colombo.

REBECCA HENSCHKE: Vijayan opens the door to his family’s two room apartment in Colombo.  He peers down the alleyway to see if anyone is following us.

VIJAYAN:  There is no safe place in Sri Lanka for Tamils.  Now the government is dominating and Sinhalese are the dominating force in Sri Lanka and the government has a very active military machine.  There are attacking, still abductions going on, disappearance going on.  So most of the people are Tamils, the disappeared people are Tamils. No more safe places to escape. That’s our fate.

HENSCHKE: Vijayan and his family fled the northern city of Jaffna two years ago when he saw his name on a poster under the heading “enemies of the state.”  Men in uniform later came to his house asking for him.

VIJAYAN: I thought I was finished and no more. That’s the final thoughts that I didn’t think I’ll be with my parents.

HENSCHKE: Vijayan insists he was never involved with Tamil Tiger rebels, but was a student activist for human rights.  Months after the end of the war, his mother Saratha still fears for her son’s life.

SARATHA:  [Translated] I want him to study and finish his degree, but if he goes back he may have to face some of the problem. So I don’t want him to face that, but I’m very worried about him.

HENSCHKE: Vijayan says he wants to go back north to finish his degree and then leave Sri Lanka.

VIJAYAN: Otherwise we don’t have an opportunity to find our future.  That’s our one and only opportunity to find our future.

HENSCHKE: Tamils like Vijayan are particularly worried about the continued military detention of over 100,000 Tamils in former rebel controlled areas up north.  The Sinhalese dominated government suspects Tamil Tigers are hiding among the displaced civilians or IDPS in the camps.  Mahinda Samarasinghe is the Human Rights Minister.

MAHINDA: The IDPs can and will be permitted to leave the relief villages and welfare centers once they are screened. Many thousands of applications have been received, requesting the release of these IDPs to the custody of host families. It is our responsibility to ensure that these checks are stringent.

HENSCHKE: But Opposition Tamil politician Mano Genesha says this process amounts to collective punishment.

MANO GENESHA: The people are being kept against their will in the barbed wired fence.  It’s built for security with military guard.  So people are kept against their will.  What is that? What do you call that? It is sheer terrorism.

HENSCHKE: Journalists and rights groups have been barred from entering the camps.  Mano Genesha has filed a law suit demanding access.

GANESHA: We need to know what’s really happening there.  We need our government as a transparency. Now, government is giving only head counts. They say 300,000 [INDISCERNIBLE]. Then later they said 290,000, 280,000.  There are some differences from their last head count and the current head count, at least about 10,000 people. They said 10,000 people have gone missing.  I wish to ask the government where is this large scale hole through which people go away?

HENSCHKE: The government has promised that those inside will be given greater freedom of movement starting next month, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa says the largest camp will be closed early next year.  His administration claims it’s liberated the Tamil people and they can now live in peace and prosperity.

PRESIDENT MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA: [In Tamil Language]

HENSCHKE: Addressing the Sri Lankan Parliament last May, President Rajapaksa announced, “We have removed the word ‘minorities’ from our vocabulary.”  But Tamils say they still feel they are being singled out in the capital.  On a recent evening, my Tamil pedi-cab driver was stopped twice in the space of less than a half mile.  Young armed soldiers kept asking lots of questions.

Regina Ramalingam of the Sri Lankan Institute for Peace says for Tamils like her this kind of questioning happens almost daily.

REGINA RAMALINGAM: You are made to understand that you are, you are a different person because you are from a different community.  The Tamil person, as a Tamil person I know I am being harassed.

HENSCHKE: Authorities maintain these security checks are preventing attacks from remaining Tamil Tigers rebels.  They recently approved a 50% increase for military spending, and plan to build two large military bases in former rebel-held territory. But Jehran Perera says the government needs to change its wartime mentality if it wants to create a lasting peace.  He’s director of the Sri Lankan Institute for Peace and an ethnic Sinhalese.

JEHRAN PERERA: There is always the possibility of guerilla attacks. I am quite sure that not all the Tigers have been eliminated.  I think that sleeper cells would still be there, but that is not a reason to have the type of enormous security precautions we are continuing to have, which has denied us the fruits of the end of the war.  The war has ended but it appears that all the institutions of war are still in place

HENSCHKE: He says Sri Lanka’s government needs to realize that in a democratic society you have to take risks.  Even though there may be a danger of lingering terrorist cells, he adds, you can’t turn the capital into a military state.  For the World this is Rebecca Henschke, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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