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The issue of concern is the extreme violence practiced by the rebels and state forces in the conflict. The fact that Sri Lanka’s political and legal systems cannot handle any conflict, particularly one between ethnic communities, is inseparable from the way all actors in the present conflict have behaved.

The test of a modern civilization is its political and legal institutions, not its so-called traditional culture. Where no civilized political and legal systems exist, the actions of the state and of citizens who have taken to violence must be judged within the framework of this situation.

This does not remove the moral responsibility for barbaric behavior, either on the part of the rebel groups or the state. Each must morally justify its actions, despite the colossal defects of the political and legal systems within which they have acted.

However, those who make wrong moral decisions that ultimately cost them their lives still deserve to be mourned. Prabhakaran was a citizen of Sri Lanka and a human being. Ultimately, it cannot be said that he was not “one of us.”

I am Sinhalese by birth; when I reached adulthood I told myself this should not affect my judgment on anything. During the latter part of my life I have lived with many races and nationalities belonging to all continents. At no stage did the race or nationality of these people affect my judgments, although ethnic and cultural differences enriched our relationships and allowed me to enjoy their company. Why should my judgment regarding the different communities in my own country be any different?

In terms of Sri Lanka’s strong Buddhist cultural tradition, perhaps the story of Angulimala drives home the point. Angulimala, a bright student, was treated badly by his guru because of a misunderstanding created by jealous rival students in the mind of the guru. The guru instructed Angulimala to bring him a chain of fingers. The finger hunt resulted in Angulimala gaining the reputation of being the worst murderer in the region because he killed everyone he met to take his or her fingers.

One day Buddha confronted him, made him face the risk of being killed, and brought Angulimala to his knees. Angulimala understood his predicament and mended his ways. The moral of the story is two-fold: that Angulimala’s behavior was conditioned, and that despite his atrocious criminal acts he was still a human being and was dealt with accordingly.

In the Christian tradition there is the story of a crowd about to stone an immoral woman. Jesus Christ stopped them, saying that the one among them who was without sin should throw the first stone.

This does not imply that moral and legal wrongs by the LTTE under their leader should be forgotten or forgiven. All moral and legal crimes must remain a top priority of the national discourse so that measures can be developed to avoid their repetition in the future.

In the case of rebellions by the People’s Liberation Front party in 1971 and 1986 to 1991, no such discussions took place and attempts at holding such discussions were deliberately suppressed. Therefore, the repetition of similar and worse behavior occurred through the LTTE.

The problem of dealing with moral and legal issues is that no one can take a holier-than-thou attitude. It is not possible to discuss and resolve the moral and legal issues of the rebels without discussing the legal and political responsibilities of the state.

If the state denies criticism of its own behavior and has no will to improve political and legal institutions, then critiquing the rebels becomes a farce. A refusal to discuss state responsibility can only be a ploy to continue the defective political and legal systems because they benefit some persons.

There emerges a real possibility of a state with greater powers of repression that could be used against the entire population. The campaign against communists in Germany was utilized by Adolf Hitler to build one of the world’s worst authoritarian systems. Similarly, the fight against the bourgeoisie and the internal party groups of the left opposition lead by Leon Trotsky was utilized by Joseph Stalin to create an authoritarian system, which was even worse than that of Hitler.

In the aftermath of Prabhakaran’s death, the exhibition of his body and the jubilation shown reflect a kind of “headhunter mentality,” like that of tribes that keep the heads of their enemies, captured in battle, as trophies of their strength and glory.

When political and legal institutions fail to live up to required standards, a sub-stream of consciousness from the past can surface, as Hannah Arendt has demonstrated in her extensive studies of various authoritarian regimes. These tendencies made concentration camps a reality. This can happen not only in countries with less developed political and legal systems but can even cause stronger systems to degenerate under certain circumstances.

The sub-stream of consciousness from the past in South Asian societies, including Sri Lanka, is conditioned by the unwritten repressive laws of the caste system, in which disproportionate and collective punishment is an integral part, as amply demonstrated in the popular novel, “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga.

That there was such a violent conflict in my country is a matter for regret and sadness. That there are no attempts to improve the political and legal systems to deal with the differences and the conflicts is a matter for even greater sadness. That the defeat of the LTTE is being manipulated so badly as to further destroy whatever remains of the political and legal systems evokes even worse premonitions for society.

How the workers and farmers, the middle class, and those who represent dissent and opposition – including those engaged in providing public information and creating public opinion through the media – will be dealt with in the future in Sri Lanka is even more frightening to think about.

There is no real victory to celebrate. Instead, there are tremendous failures to worry about. If organizing such artificial celebrations is meant to fool the people again, then these celebrations will, in fact, glorify failure. The last thing that human beings can rely on is their common humanity, and the last thing that citizens of a nation can rely on is their citizenship.

The bonds of humanity and citizenship bind the fallen rebels and the fallen soldiers. They all need to be mourned. That is the least bit of decency anyone can demonstrate. I mourn for all of them, including Prabhakaran.

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(Basil Fernando is director of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong. He is a Sri Lankan lawyer who has also been a senior U.N. human rights officer in Cambodia. He has published several books and written extensively on human rights issues in Asia. His blog can be read at http://srilanka-lawlessness.com.)