Sri Lanka, May 2 -- The month of May brings Sri Lanka to the 12th anniversary of ending 30 years of bloodshed in the country and marks the vanquishing of terrorism.

Through the complete defeat of the LTTE and the annihilation of its top leadership, May 18 brought an end to Tamil and Sinhala youth getting killed and maimed in the battleground, bombs exploding in Colombo, young Tamil children forced out of schools by the LTTE to become terrorists, Sinhalese villagers in areas bordering the North being butchered and Tamil youth trained to become suicide bombers.

This writer would argue that Sri Lanka's biggest victory has been being guided by Buddhist compassion in its decision to use the option of pardoning, rehabilitating and re-integrat...