Conflict Between Tamils and Sinhalese

Felix Felicio - 1801393613

Novita Wijaya - 1501146035

Sri Lanka has been ravaged by a long running and bloody civil war, due to ethnic tensions between the Buddhist Sinhalese majority and the Hindu Tamil minority. The conflict cost the lives of an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 citizens and hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced. Although the war ended in May 2009, ethnic division remain entrenched and human rights abuses are widespread.

The Roots of the Conflict

Tensions in Sri Lanka first boiled over into a civil war in 1983, but the roots of the conflict extend far further than that. The conflict arises from the tensions between the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese majority and the mainly Hindu Tamil minority, who now make up 82 per cent and 9 per cent of the country’s population respectively. Prior to the conflict these statistics were 74 per cent and 18 per cent, indicating the huge numbers of Tamils who have fled the country.

Prior to independence in 1948, the Sinhalese felt discriminated against by their British rulers, leading to the development of Sinhalese political nationalism. With independence and the establishment of a first-past-the-post electoral system, much of the power was placed in the hands of Sinhalese governments. These governments brought in legislation leading to the increasing marginalisation of the Tamil minority, including the 1956 Official Language Act. This led to increasingly strained relations between the two groups and numerous violent riots.

Conflict History

Photo credit: Foto_di_Signorina

The civil war broke out in July 1983. Conflict in the North and East was mainly between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Violence was also fuelled by insurrections carried out by the Janathā Vimukthi Peramuṇa (JVP), a Marxist and Sinhalese nationalist political party.

After the outbreak of war numerous attempts at peace negotiations and ceasefires were interspersed with further conflict outbreaks. The situation was worsened by the 2004 tsunami, which killed tens of thousands of people.

In 2008 President Rajapaksa began a military offensive aimed at achieving complete victory over the LTTE. Victory was declared in May 2009 after the last of the LTTE controlled areas were captured, but numerous questions remain over the country’s prospects for peace.

Our Opinion :

The main causes for the rift between the Silhalese and Tamils are..

Like most other conflicts of South Asia, the origins of this rift can be traced backed to colonial times. The Sinhalese say Tamils received preferential treatment under British rule (1796-1948) and point to the disproportionate number of Sri Lankan Tamil civil servants, doctors and lawyers at the time of independence. Although many Sinhala nationalists may not agree with this view, most historians say that the roots of the conflict stem from the "divide and rule" policy adopted by the British during their occupation of Sri Lanka. Correspondence filed in London's British Library gives credence to this claim.

The reasons for Tamil predominance in the professions were many. The principal one was the large number of affordable English-language missionary schools set up in Jaffna and other Tamil areas in the north. Students from these schools were much better equipped for university admissions than those from Sinhala schools. The affirmative action steps the Sri Lankan government took to redress the situation favoured the Sinhalese and enraged Tamils who felt disenfranchised.