News Highlight
India expressed its concern over the lack of any measurable progress by the Sri Lankan government on its commitment to reaching a political solution on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue.
Key Takeaway
- India raised concerns at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.
Sri Lankan Tamils
- The majority of Sri Lankans are ethnic Sinhalese, a group of Indo-European peoples that migrated to the island from northern India in the BC 500s (during the Mauryan Empire).
- The Sinhalese had contact with the Tamils, who were settled in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent.
- Significant migration of the Tamils occurred between the 7th and the 11th centuries CE, especially during the Cholas (Rajaraja Chola and Rajendra Chola).
British rule in Sri Lanka.
- When the British started ruling the country in 1815, the approximate population of the Sinhalese was roughly 3 million, and the Tamils numbered up to 300,000.
- Apart from their ethnicity, the two groups differed in their religious affiliations.
- The Sinhalese were predominantly Buddhist, and the Tamils were primarily Hindu.
- The British ruled over Sri Lanka from 1815 to 1948.
- During this time, they brought nearly a million Tamils to work in the coffee, tea and rubber plantations in the island nation.
- The British also set up good educational and other infrastructure in the northern part of the country, which was where the Tamils were in a majority.
- They also favoured the Tamils in the civil service.
- All this naturally fostered ill-feeling among the Sinhalese.
What happened after Independence?
- Sri Lanka attained independence from the British on February 4, 1948.
- After attaining independence, the new government initiated laws that discriminated against the Tamils.
- Sinhalese was declared the sole official language, which effectively eliminated the Tamils from government service.
- A law was also passed that simply barred Indian Tamils from getting citizenship.
- The Tamils started demanding equal rights in their homeland. Their demands were just, and their methods peaceful.
- However, ethnic tension was rising in the country, and the successive Sinhalese governments did nothing to provide equal rights and opportunities to the Tamil people. They were even targets of sectarian violence.
- In 1972, the Sinhalese changed the country’s name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka and made Buddhism the nation’s primary religion.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
- As ethnic tension grew, in 1976, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were formed under the leadership of Velupillai Prabhakaran, and they began to campaign for a Tamil homeland in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, where most of the island’s Tamils reside.
- In 1983, the LTTE trapped an army convoy, killing thirteen soldiers and triggering riots in which 2,500 Tamils died.
- The group first struck in July 1983 when they attacked an army patrol at Tirunelveli in Jaffna.
- 13 army men were killed, which prompted violence against civilian Tamils by the majority community.
- The initial days of the LTTE were focused on fighting other Tamil factions and consolidating power as the sole representative of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
- This was achieved by 1986, the same year it captured Jaffna.
- There were many fights between the government and the insurgents in which civilians were also affected. Many Tamils left their homes for the eastern part of the country.
Developments
- Ethnic ties have bound southern India and Sri Lanka for over two millennia. India is a home to more than 60 million of the world’s 77 million Tamils, while about 4 million live in Sri Lanka.
- The Palk Strait, about 40 km (25 miles) wide at its narrowest point, separates the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and northern Sri Lanka, traditionally the main Tamil area of the Indian Ocean island.
- When the war between Sri Lankan Tamils and the Sinhalese majority erupted in 1983, India took an active role.
- Indo-Sri Lankan Accord was signed in 1987 to provide a political solution to Sri Lanka’s conflict.
- It proposed the establishment of a provincial council system and the devolution of power to nine provinces in Sri Lanka (also known as the Thirteenth Amendment).
Content Source: The Hindu