Origins of the Sri Lankan civil war
Encyclopedia
The origins of the Sri Lankan Civil War
lie in the continuous political rancor between the majority Sinhalese
and the minority Tamils. According to Jonathan Spencer, a social anthropologist from the School of Social and Political Studies of the University of Edinburgh
, the war is an outcome of how modern ethnic identities have been made and re-made since the colonial period, with the political struggle between minority Tamils and the Sinhala-dominant government accompanied by rhetorical wars over archeological sites and place name etymologies
, and the political use of the national past.
, Methodists and Anglican churches led to a revival amongst Hindu Tamils who built their own schools, temples, societies and published literature to counter the missionary activities. The success of this effort led the Tamils to think confidently of themselves as a community and prepared the way for self consciousness as a cultural, religious and linguisitic community in the mid nineteenth century.
Great Britain
, which had come to control the whole of the island in 1815, instituted a legislative council
in 1833 with three Europeans and one each for Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Burghers
. This council's primary requirement was to play an advisory role to the Governor. These positions eventually came to be elected. From the introduction of advisory council to the Donoughmore Commission
in 1931 until the Soulbury Commission
in 1947 the main dispute between the elite of Sinhalese and Tamils was over the question of representation and not on the structure of the government. The issue of power sharing was used by the nationalists of both communities to create an escalating inter ethnic rivalry which has continually gained momentum ever since.
There was initially little tension amongst Sri Lanka's two largest ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and the Tamils, when Ponnambalam Arunachalam
, a Tamil, was appointed representative of the Sinhalese as well the Tamils in the national legislative council. However, the British Governor William Manning
actively encouraged the concept of "communal representation" and created the Colombo
seat which was dangled between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. Subsequently, the Donoughmore Commission
strongly rejected communal representation, and brought in universal franchise. The decision was strongly opposed by the Tamil political leadership, who realized that they would be reduced to a minority in parliament, according to the proportion of the population they make up. G. G. Ponnambalam
, a leader of the Tamil community, proposed to the Soulbury
Commission that there should be 50-50 representation (50% for the Sinhalese, 50% for all other ethnic groups, including Tamils) in the proposed independent Ceylon - a proposal that was rejected. The Second World War served as an interregnum where the adroit politics of D. S. Senanayake successfully balancing the polarising tendencies of the Sinhala as well as Tamil nationalists.
Following independence in 1948, G. G. Ponnambalam
and the party he founded, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress
(Tamil Congress), joined D. S. Senanayake's moderate, Western-oriented, United National Party
Government. This Government pass the Ceylon Citizenship Act
of 1948, which denied citizenship to Sri Lankans of Indian origin and resulted in Sri Lanka becoming a majoritanian state. Sri Lanka's government represented only the majority community, the Sinhalese community, and had marginalized the minorities, causing a "severe degree of alienation" among the minority communities. When this Act was passed, the Tamil Congress
was strongly criticized by the opposition Marxist groups and the newly formed Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist
Federal Party (FP). S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
, the leader of this new party, contested the citizenship act before the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
, and then in the Privy council
in England
, on grounds of discrimination towards minorities, but he did not prevail in overturning it. The FP took two seats in the 1952 election
, against the Tamil Congress'
four, but in the 1956 election
it became the dominant party in the Tamil districts and remained so for two decades. The FP's came to be known for its uncompromising stand on Tamil rights. In response to the parliamentary act that made Sinhala the sole official language
in 1956, Federal MP
s staged a non violent
sit in (satyagraha
) protest, but it was broken up by a nationalist mob. The police and other state authorities present at the location failed to take action to stop the violence. The FP was cast as scapegoats and were briefly banned after the 1958 riots
in which many were killed and thousands of Tamils forced to flee their homes.
Another point of conflict between the communities was state sponsored colonization schemes
that had the effect of changing the demographic balance in the Eastern province in favor of majority Sinhalese that the Tamil nationalists considered to be their traditional homeland. It has been perhaps the most immediate cause of inter-communal violence.
In the 1970s importing Tamil language films, books, magazines, journals, etc. from the cultural hub of Tamil Nadu
, India
was banned. Sri Lanka also banned local groups affiliated with groups such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) and the Tamil Youth League. Foreign exchange for the long established practice of Tamil students going to India for university education was stopped. Equally, examinations for external degrees from the University of London
were abolished. This had the effect of culturally cutting off the links between Tamil Sri Lankan and Tamils from India. The then government insisted that these measures were part of a general program of economic self-sufficiency as part of its socialist agenda and not targeted against the Tamil minority.
In 1973 the policy of standardization
was implemented by the Sri Lankan government to what they believed was to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in Sri Lanka under British colonial rule
. It was in essence an affirmative action
scheme to assist geographically disadvantaged students to gain tertiary education. The resultant benefits enjoyed by Sinhalese students also meant a significant fall in the number of Tamil students within the Sri Lankan university student populace.
In 1973, the Federal Party decided to demand for a separate state
. To further their nationalistic cause they merged with the other Tamil political parties to become the Tamil United Liberation Front
(TULF) in 1975. On 1976, after the first National convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front, the Ceylon Tamils moved towards a morphed nationalism which meant that they were now unwilling to live within a confined single island entity. Chelvanayakam and the Federal Party had always campaigned for a unitary country and thought that partitioning of the country would be “suicidal” up until 1973. However policies by the various governments that was considered to be discriminatory by Tamil leadership modified the stand to Tamil Nationalism.
Since 1948 when Sri Lanka became independent, successive governments have adopted policies that had the effect of net preference to the majority Sinhalese at the expense of the minority Sri Lankan Tamils. The governments adopted these policies in order to assist the Sinhalese community in such areas as education and public employment. But these policies severely curtailed the middle class Tamil youth, who found it more difficult during the 1970s and 1980s to enter a university or secure employment. These individuals belonging to this younger generation, often referred to by other Tamils as "the boys" (Podiyan in Tamil language
) formed many militant organizations. The most important contributor to the strength of the militant groups was the Black July
pogrom which was perceived have been an organized event in which over 1000 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians were killed prompting many youth to prefer the armed path of resistance.
By the end of 1987, they had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces but also the Indian Peace Keeping Force
. They also fought among each other ,as well, with equal if not greater brutality. The main group: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), a rebel group, decimated most of the others. They represented intergenerational tensions as well as caste
and ideological differences. Except the LTTE, many of the remaining organizations have morphed into minor political parties within the Tamil National Alliance
or as standalone political parties. Some also function as paramilitary groups within the Sri Lankan military.
by the British colonial authorities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These Indian Tamils
(or Estate Tamils), as they are called, still work mainly in Sri Lanka’s tea
plantations. They have been locked in poverty for generations and continue to experience poor living conditions. Although they speak dialects of the same language, they are usually considered a separate community from the Sri Lankan Tamils of the North and East.
The government of D.S. Senanayake passed legislation stripping the estate Tamils of their citizenship in 1949, leaving them stateless
.
The effect was to tilt the island's political balance away from the Tamils. In 1948, at independence, the Tamils had 33% of the voting power in Parliament.. Upon the disenfranchisement of the estate Tamils, however, this proportion dropped to 20%. The Sinhalese could and did obtain more than a 2/3 majority in Parliament, making it impossible for Tamils to exercise an effective opposition to Sinhalese policies affecting them. The main reason for the imbalance was that several multi-member constituencies elected a Tamil member of Parliament in a majority Sinhala electorate. The idea in having multi-member constituencies was to prevent domination of minorities by a future nationalist government.
Not content with stripping their citizenship, successive governments tried to remove the estate Tamils from the country entirely. In 1962, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike
signed an agreement with Indian Prime Minister L.B. Shastri
. A second agreement was signed three years later with Indira Gandhi
. These provided that 600,000 of the estate Tamils would be expelled and sent to India over a 15-year period, and 375,000 would be restored their Sri Lankan citizenship. Not all of the former group actually returned to India, and remained in Sri Lanka without the ability to vote, travel abroad, or participate fully in Sri Lankan life. It was not until 2003 that full citizenship rights were restored to the remaining Tamils in the hill country.
Ethnic conflict was exacerbated by the Sinhala Official Language Act of 1956. General consensus existed that English should be replaced as the country's official language. In the Act, the Sri Lankan government replaced English with Sinhala which deprived the Tamils of their right to deal with government institutions in their language as well as limited their opportunity to join government service. By 1956 approximately 75% of the population maintained fluency in the Sinhala language, approximately 15% proficient in Tamil and the remaining ethnic groups speaking mainly English including the Burghers and Muslims. Multi-linguism was not commonspread although many Sri Lankans had knowledge of at least two of the three main languages.
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party
(SLFP) government led by Solomon Bandaranaike
was sworn into office on a platform that of helping the growing population of unemployed youth who were disenfranchised by the Sinhala Official Language policy. A majority of civil servants under colonial rule were Tamil whose positions benefited from free English-medium missionary schools in the north and east of the island. The Tamil Federal Party led a group of Tamil volunteers and staged a sit-down satyagraha
(peaceful protest).
The Sinhala Official Language policy was gradually weakened by all subsequent governments and in 1987 Tamil was made an official language of Sri Lanka http://www.us-english.org/foundation/research/olp/viewResearch.asp?CID=30&TID=3, alongside Sinhala. English has remained the de facto
language of governance; government activity continues to be carried out in English, including the drafting of legislation.
, 150-200 Tamils were killed, thousands more were assaulted and Tamil property looted. Over 25,000 Tamil refugees were relocated to the North.
, India
was banned. Sri Lanka also banned groups such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and the Tamil Youth League. Culturally, Tamil Sri Lankans were cut off from Tamil Nadu. Foreign exchange for the long established practice of Tamil students going to India for university education was stopped. Equally, examinations for external degrees from the University of London
were abolished. The government insisted this was a part of a general program of economic self-sufficiency, part of its socialist agenda, however most of the Tamil population did not accept nor believe this.
The banning of Tamil language
media importation by the government of Sri Lanka in 1970 was perceived by some minority
Sri Lankan Tamil politicians as directed against their cultural survival. Importing Tamil language
films, books, magazines, journals from Tamil Nadu, India were banned.
Sri Lanka also proscribed the local branch of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and the Tamil Youth League. Culturally, the minority Sri Lankan Tamil people felt cut off from Tamil Nadu
. But some argue that it led to native Sri Lankan Tamil literature and media to thrive without competition from India.
Under the British, English was the state language and consequently greatly benefited English speakers. However, the majority of the Sri Lankan populace lived outside urban areas and did not belong to the social elite, and therefore did not enjoy the benefits of English-medium education. The issue was compounded further by the fact that in northern and eastern regions of the island, where a largely Tamil speaking populace resided, students had access to English-medium education through missionary schools regardless of their socio-economic status. This created a situation where the large proportion of students enrolled in universities were English speaking Tamils, particularly in professional courses such as medicine
and engineering
.
The government policy of standardization
in essence was an affirmative action
scheme to assist geographically disadvantaged students to gain tertiary education. The benefits enjoyed by Sinhalese students also meant a significant fall in the number of Tamil students within the university population.
proceeded to nationalize most missionary schools in the country, secularizing them and changing the language of instruction from English to Sinhala only. After this, it became rare for Sinhalese and Tamil children to attend school together. Unable to speak Sinhalese, it became increasingly difficult for Tamil youth to gain access to civil service jobs or attend universities, and unemployment rose.
The name of the country was changed from Ceylon to Sri Lanka in 1970, a name of Sanskrit
origin that angered and alienated many Tamils.
The concept of a separate nation, Tamil Eelam
, was proposed by the Tamil United Liberation Front
(TULF) in 1976 . TULF was a coalition of parties who went on to campaign in the 1977 elections
for an independent state for Tamils in Sri Lanka. They won most of the Tamil seats, but the government later banned them from Parliament for advocating an independent state.
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
lie in the continuous political rancor between the majority Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
and the minority Tamils. According to Jonathan Spencer, a social anthropologist from the School of Social and Political Studies of the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, the war is an outcome of how modern ethnic identities have been made and re-made since the colonial period, with the political struggle between minority Tamils and the Sinhala-dominant government accompanied by rhetorical wars over archeological sites and place name etymologies
Sri Lankan place name etymology
Sri Lankan place name etymology is characterized by the linguistic and ethnic diversity of the island of Sri Lanka through the ages and the position of the country in the centre of ancient and medieval sea trade routes. While typical Sri Lankan placenames of Sinhalese origin vastly dominate,...
, and the political use of the national past.
Follow up to armed struggle
A primary contributor to the development of political awareness amongst Tamils was the advent of Protestant missionaries on a large scale from 1814. Missionary activities by missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign MissionsAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
, Methodists and Anglican churches led to a revival amongst Hindu Tamils who built their own schools, temples, societies and published literature to counter the missionary activities. The success of this effort led the Tamils to think confidently of themselves as a community and prepared the way for self consciousness as a cultural, religious and linguisitic community in the mid nineteenth century.
Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, which had come to control the whole of the island in 1815, instituted a legislative council
Legislative Council of Ceylon
The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of Ceylon established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first form of representative government in the island...
in 1833 with three Europeans and one each for Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Burghers
Burgher people
The Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendants of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries and local women, with some minorities of Swedish, Norwegian, French and Irish.Today the mother tongue of the Burghers...
. This council's primary requirement was to play an advisory role to the Governor. These positions eventually came to be elected. From the introduction of advisory council to the Donoughmore Commission
Donoughmore Commission
The Donoughmore Commission was responsible for the creation of the Donoughmore Constitution in effect between 1931–47 in Ceylon...
in 1931 until the Soulbury Commission
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission, announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a prime instrument of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers,...
in 1947 the main dispute between the elite of Sinhalese and Tamils was over the question of representation and not on the structure of the government. The issue of power sharing was used by the nationalists of both communities to create an escalating inter ethnic rivalry which has continually gained momentum ever since.
There was initially little tension amongst Sri Lanka's two largest ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and the Tamils, when Ponnambalam Arunachalam
Ponnambalam Arunachalam
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachchalam, CCS was a Tamil political leader in Ceylon and a member of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council.-Early life:...
, a Tamil, was appointed representative of the Sinhalese as well the Tamils in the national legislative council. However, the British Governor William Manning
William Manning (colonial governor)
Brigadier-General Sir William Henry Manning GCMG KBE CB was a British soldier and colonial administrator.Manning was educated at the University of Cambridge as a non-collegiate student and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the South Wales Borderers in 1886...
actively encouraged the concept of "communal representation" and created the Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
seat which was dangled between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. Subsequently, the Donoughmore Commission
Donoughmore Commission
The Donoughmore Commission was responsible for the creation of the Donoughmore Constitution in effect between 1931–47 in Ceylon...
strongly rejected communal representation, and brought in universal franchise. The decision was strongly opposed by the Tamil political leadership, who realized that they would be reduced to a minority in parliament, according to the proportion of the population they make up. G. G. Ponnambalam
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
, a leader of the Tamil community, proposed to the Soulbury
Soulbury
Soulbury is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Aylesbury Vale, about three miles south of the Milton Keynes urban area, three miles north of Wing. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'stronghold in a...
Commission that there should be 50-50 representation (50% for the Sinhalese, 50% for all other ethnic groups, including Tamils) in the proposed independent Ceylon - a proposal that was rejected. The Second World War served as an interregnum where the adroit politics of D. S. Senanayake successfully balancing the polarising tendencies of the Sinhala as well as Tamil nationalists.
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
and the party he founded, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress , is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka.-History:The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament...
(Tamil Congress), joined D. S. Senanayake's moderate, Western-oriented, United National Party
United National Party
The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...
Government. This Government pass the Ceylon Citizenship Act
Ceylon Citizenship Act
The Ceylon Citizenship Act No. 18 of 1948 was a controversial law passed by the Ceylon Parliament which denied citizenship to 11% of the population.-Background:...
of 1948, which denied citizenship to Sri Lankans of Indian origin and resulted in Sri Lanka becoming a majoritanian state. Sri Lanka's government represented only the majority community, the Sinhalese community, and had marginalized the minorities, causing a "severe degree of alienation" among the minority communities. When this Act was passed, the Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress , is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka.-History:The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament...
was strongly criticized by the opposition Marxist groups and the newly formed Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist
Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism
Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism is the conviction of the Sri Lankan Tamil people, a minority ethnic group in the South Asian island country of Sri Lanka , that they have the right to constitute an independent or autonomous political community. This idea has not always existed...
Federal Party (FP). S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the political leader and father figure of the Sri Lankan Tamil community for more than two decades...
, the leader of this new party, contested the citizenship act before the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka is the highest court of the nation of Sri Lanka. The Supreme Court is the highest and final judicial instance of record and is empowered to exercise its powers, subject to the provisions of the Constitution. The Court has ultimate appellate jurisdiction in...
, and then in the Privy council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on grounds of discrimination towards minorities, but he did not prevail in overturning it. The FP took two seats in the 1952 election
Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 1952
-Background:Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake died in March 1952, and was succeeded by his son, Dudley. The national wave of mourning for Ceylon's first prime minister greatly boosted the UNP's fortunes....
, against the Tamil Congress'
All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress , is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka.-History:The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament...
four, but in the 1956 election
Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 1956
General elections were held in Ceylon in 1956. They were a watershed in the country's political history, and was the first elections fought to challenge the ruling United National Party. The former Leader of the House, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who was passed over after the death of the first Prime...
it became the dominant party in the Tamil districts and remained so for two decades. The FP's came to be known for its uncompromising stand on Tamil rights. In response to the parliamentary act that made Sinhala the sole official language
Sinhala Only Act
The Sinhala Only Act was a law passed in the Ceylonese parliament in 1956...
in 1956, Federal MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
s staged a non violent
Nonviolent resistance
Nonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. It is largely synonymous with civil resistance...
sit in (satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
) protest, but it was broken up by a nationalist mob. The police and other state authorities present at the location failed to take action to stop the violence. The FP was cast as scapegoats and were briefly banned after the 1958 riots
Sri Lankan riots of 1958
1958 riots in Ceylon also known as 58 riots was first island wide ethnic riots that targeted the minority Sri Lankan Tamils in Ceylon after it became an independent country from Britain in 1948. The riots lasted from May 22 until May 27, 1958 although sporadic disturbances happened even after the...
in which many were killed and thousands of Tamils forced to flee their homes.
Another point of conflict between the communities was state sponsored colonization schemes
Sri Lankan state sponsored colonisation schemes
Sri Lankan state sponsored colonisation schemes refers to government backed establishment of Sinhalese communities in regions traditionally considered to be Sri Lankan Tamil lands in the northern or eastern parts of the Sri Lanka...
that had the effect of changing the demographic balance in the Eastern province in favor of majority Sinhalese that the Tamil nationalists considered to be their traditional homeland. It has been perhaps the most immediate cause of inter-communal violence.
In the 1970s importing Tamil language films, books, magazines, journals, etc. from the cultural hub of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
was banned. Sri Lanka also banned local groups affiliated with groups such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) and the Tamil Youth League. Foreign exchange for the long established practice of Tamil students going to India for university education was stopped. Equally, examinations for external degrees from the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
were abolished. This had the effect of culturally cutting off the links between Tamil Sri Lankan and Tamils from India. The then government insisted that these measures were part of a general program of economic self-sufficiency as part of its socialist agenda and not targeted against the Tamil minority.
In 1973 the policy of standardization
Policy of standardization
The policy of standardization was a policy implemented by the Sri Lankan government in 1973 to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in Sri Lanka under Colonial rule.-The reasoning for the law:...
was implemented by the Sri Lankan government to what they believed was to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in Sri Lanka under British colonial rule
British Ceylon
British Ceylon refers to British rule prior to 1948 of the island territory now known as Sri Lanka.-From the Dutch to the British:Before the beginning of the Dutch governance, the island of Ceylon was divided between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy, who were in the midst of a war for...
. It was in essence an affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
scheme to assist geographically disadvantaged students to gain tertiary education. The resultant benefits enjoyed by Sinhalese students also meant a significant fall in the number of Tamil students within the Sri Lankan university student populace.
In 1973, the Federal Party decided to demand for a separate state
Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam , is the name given by certain Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to the independent state which they aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Tamil Eelam has no official status or recognition by any other state or authority...
. To further their nationalistic cause they merged with the other Tamil political parties to become the Tamil United Liberation Front
Tamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka which seeks independence for the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka.-Formation:...
(TULF) in 1975. On 1976, after the first National convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front, the Ceylon Tamils moved towards a morphed nationalism which meant that they were now unwilling to live within a confined single island entity. Chelvanayakam and the Federal Party had always campaigned for a unitary country and thought that partitioning of the country would be “suicidal” up until 1973. However policies by the various governments that was considered to be discriminatory by Tamil leadership modified the stand to Tamil Nationalism.
Rise of militancy
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
) formed many militant organizations. The most important contributor to the strength of the militant groups was the Black July
Black July
Black July is the commonly used name for the anti-Tamil pogrom and attacks carried out by mobs in Sri Lanka which began on July 23, 1983. The riots occurred following a deadly ambush by a Tamil militant organization known as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which killed 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers...
pogrom which was perceived have been an organized event in which over 1000 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians were killed prompting many youth to prefer the armed path of resistance.
By the end of 1987, they had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces but also the Indian Peace Keeping Force
Indian Peace Keeping Force
Indian Peace Keeping Force was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990...
. They also fought among each other ,as well, with equal if not greater brutality. The main group: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...
(LTTE), a rebel group, decimated most of the others. They represented intergenerational tensions as well as caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
and ideological differences. Except the LTTE, many of the remaining organizations have morphed into minor political parties within the Tamil National Alliance
Tamil National Alliance
The Tamil National Alliance is a powerful minority Sri Lankan Tamil political alliance in Sri Lanka. It was formed as an amalgamation of moderate Tamil parties as well as number of former rebel groups...
or as standalone political parties. Some also function as paramilitary groups within the Sri Lankan military.
Denial of citizenship to estate Tamils
There is a sizable population of Tamils in the Central Province, plantation laborers brought down from IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
by the British colonial authorities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These Indian Tamils
Sri Lanka Tamils (Indian origin)
The Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are also known as Hill country Tamils, Up-country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils. They are partly descended from workers sent from South India to Sri Lanka in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in coffee, tea and...
(or Estate Tamils), as they are called, still work mainly in Sri Lanka’s tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
plantations. They have been locked in poverty for generations and continue to experience poor living conditions. Although they speak dialects of the same language, they are usually considered a separate community from the Sri Lankan Tamils of the North and East.
The government of D.S. Senanayake passed legislation stripping the estate Tamils of their citizenship in 1949, leaving them stateless
Stateless nation
A stateless nation is a group, usually a minority ethnic group, considered as a nation entitled to its own state for that nation. Since there are few objective criteria for whether a particular group is a nation, or which particular group "has" any given multinational state, usage of the term is...
.
The effect was to tilt the island's political balance away from the Tamils. In 1948, at independence, the Tamils had 33% of the voting power in Parliament.. Upon the disenfranchisement of the estate Tamils, however, this proportion dropped to 20%. The Sinhalese could and did obtain more than a 2/3 majority in Parliament, making it impossible for Tamils to exercise an effective opposition to Sinhalese policies affecting them. The main reason for the imbalance was that several multi-member constituencies elected a Tamil member of Parliament in a majority Sinhala electorate. The idea in having multi-member constituencies was to prevent domination of minorities by a future nationalist government.
Not content with stripping their citizenship, successive governments tried to remove the estate Tamils from the country entirely. In 1962, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician and the world's first female head of government...
signed an agreement with Indian Prime Minister L.B. Shastri
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Lal Bahadur Srivastava Shastri was the second Prime Minister of the Republic of India and a significant figure in the Indian independence movement.-Early life:...
. A second agreement was signed three years later with Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
. These provided that 600,000 of the estate Tamils would be expelled and sent to India over a 15-year period, and 375,000 would be restored their Sri Lankan citizenship. Not all of the former group actually returned to India, and remained in Sri Lanka without the ability to vote, travel abroad, or participate fully in Sri Lankan life. It was not until 2003 that full citizenship rights were restored to the remaining Tamils in the hill country.
Language policy
The detailed reports of the Kandyan Peasantry commission (1947), the Buddhist commission (1956), as well as statistics of preponderant admissions of Tamil speaking students to the university provided a basis for these Sinhala activists who ensured S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike won a landslide victory in 1956, campaigning on a strong Sinhala nationalist platform.Ethnic conflict was exacerbated by the Sinhala Official Language Act of 1956. General consensus existed that English should be replaced as the country's official language. In the Act, the Sri Lankan government replaced English with Sinhala which deprived the Tamils of their right to deal with government institutions in their language as well as limited their opportunity to join government service. By 1956 approximately 75% of the population maintained fluency in the Sinhala language, approximately 15% proficient in Tamil and the remaining ethnic groups speaking mainly English including the Burghers and Muslims. Multi-linguism was not commonspread although many Sri Lankans had knowledge of at least two of the three main languages.
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Sri Lanka Freedom Party
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is one of the major political parties in Sri Lanka. It was founded by S.W.R.D Bandaranaike in 1951 and, since then, has been one of the two largest parties in the Sri Lankan political arena. It first came to power in 1956 and since then has been the predominant party in...
(SLFP) government led by Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கா)Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ்...
was sworn into office on a platform that of helping the growing population of unemployed youth who were disenfranchised by the Sinhala Official Language policy. A majority of civil servants under colonial rule were Tamil whose positions benefited from free English-medium missionary schools in the north and east of the island. The Tamil Federal Party led a group of Tamil volunteers and staged a sit-down satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
(peaceful protest).
The Sinhala Official Language policy was gradually weakened by all subsequent governments and in 1987 Tamil was made an official language of Sri Lanka http://www.us-english.org/foundation/research/olp/viewResearch.asp?CID=30&TID=3, alongside Sinhala. English has remained the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
language of governance; government activity continues to be carried out in English, including the drafting of legislation.
1958 riots
In the 1958 riotsSri Lankan riots of 1958
1958 riots in Ceylon also known as 58 riots was first island wide ethnic riots that targeted the minority Sri Lankan Tamils in Ceylon after it became an independent country from Britain in 1948. The riots lasted from May 22 until May 27, 1958 although sporadic disturbances happened even after the...
, 150-200 Tamils were killed, thousands more were assaulted and Tamil property looted. Over 25,000 Tamil refugees were relocated to the North.
1970 - Banning of Tamil media and literature importation
Importing Tamil language films, books, magazines, journals, etc. from the cultural hub of Tamil NaduTamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
was banned. Sri Lanka also banned groups such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and the Tamil Youth League. Culturally, Tamil Sri Lankans were cut off from Tamil Nadu. Foreign exchange for the long established practice of Tamil students going to India for university education was stopped. Equally, examinations for external degrees from the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
were abolished. The government insisted this was a part of a general program of economic self-sufficiency, part of its socialist agenda, however most of the Tamil population did not accept nor believe this.
The banning of Tamil language
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
media importation by the government of Sri Lanka in 1970 was perceived by some minority
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
Sri Lankan Tamil politicians as directed against their cultural survival. Importing Tamil language
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
films, books, magazines, journals from Tamil Nadu, India were banned.
Sri Lanka also proscribed the local branch of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and the Tamil Youth League. Culturally, the minority Sri Lankan Tamil people felt cut off from Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
. But some argue that it led to native Sri Lankan Tamil literature and media to thrive without competition from India.
1971 - Universities Act
During the 1970s university admissions were standardized. This initiative took place to rectify disparities created in university enrollment during colonial rule.Under the British, English was the state language and consequently greatly benefited English speakers. However, the majority of the Sri Lankan populace lived outside urban areas and did not belong to the social elite, and therefore did not enjoy the benefits of English-medium education. The issue was compounded further by the fact that in northern and eastern regions of the island, where a largely Tamil speaking populace resided, students had access to English-medium education through missionary schools regardless of their socio-economic status. This created a situation where the large proportion of students enrolled in universities were English speaking Tamils, particularly in professional courses such as medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
.
The government policy of standardization
Policy of standardization
The policy of standardization was a policy implemented by the Sri Lankan government in 1973 to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in Sri Lanka under Colonial rule.-The reasoning for the law:...
in essence was an affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
scheme to assist geographically disadvantaged students to gain tertiary education. The benefits enjoyed by Sinhalese students also meant a significant fall in the number of Tamil students within the university population.
Rise of separatism
At first, Tamil politicians pushed for a federal system through the Federal Party. This was met with suspicion and resistance from many Sinhalese. In the 1960s, the government of Sirimavo BandaranaikeSirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician and the world's first female head of government...
proceeded to nationalize most missionary schools in the country, secularizing them and changing the language of instruction from English to Sinhala only. After this, it became rare for Sinhalese and Tamil children to attend school together. Unable to speak Sinhalese, it became increasingly difficult for Tamil youth to gain access to civil service jobs or attend universities, and unemployment rose.
The name of the country was changed from Ceylon to Sri Lanka in 1970, a name of Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
origin that angered and alienated many Tamils.
The concept of a separate nation, Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam , is the name given by certain Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to the independent state which they aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Tamil Eelam has no official status or recognition by any other state or authority...
, was proposed by the Tamil United Liberation Front
Tamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka which seeks independence for the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka.-Formation:...
(TULF) in 1976 . TULF was a coalition of parties who went on to campaign in the 1977 elections
Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 1977
The 1977 Sri Lankan election heralded the beginning of a new period of Sri Lanka's history - a period of unprecedented violence.-Background:Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike had become extraordinarily unpopular. Her economic policies had led to industrial growth and self-reliance, but was...
for an independent state for Tamils in Sri Lanka. They won most of the Tamil seats, but the government later banned them from Parliament for advocating an independent state.