Kuala Lampur, March 25 -- In international business and diplomacy, silence is often mistaken for pragmatism. Non-intervention becomes economic calculus. War crimes are euphemised as "domestic challenges." But when entire communities are systematically erased - not just from territory, but from memory - silence becomes complicity.

This month, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on four Sri Lankan figures responsible for gross human rights violations during the island's civil war, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and sexual violence. Among them: Shavendra Silva, Wasantha Karannagoda, Jagath Jayasuriya - all former heads of Sri Lanka's military apparatus - and Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (a.k.a. Karuna Amman), the paramilitary d...