Sarah J. Blige

When I began writing this article several days ago, the  Sri Lanka civil war was raging out of control with no foreseeable resolution. Then, on the afternoon of May 18, 2009, I heard a reporter for CBC radio announce the “end” of the Sri Lanka civil war, as the army had apparently killed the Tamil Tiger’s leader and gained control of the last parts of land held by the Tamil militant group.  I was more than a little surprised to hear that the fighting had finally stopped; since 1983, the Sri Lanka government had been faced with the seemingly inextricable problem of a highly sophisticated and financially powerful guerilla organization unrelentingly standing their ground in this 26-year civil war, and I, for one, did not see this (so-called end) coming. The fighting has finally (if temporarily) stopped, and the Sri Lanka Army has successfully disbanded the Tamil Tigers, but this is not the end of Sri Lanka’s problems; the war-torn South Asian country now faces a massive humanitarian crisis, and the political unrest that caused this almost three-decade-long civil war has not been resolved.

One of South Asia's most beautiful countries has become a bloody battlefield

Though the Sri Lanka civil war has received increased media exposure in recent months, there is still a dangerous lack of accurate reporting from this area. Journalists have been almost completely banned and facts and figures released by the Sri Lanka government are often questioned for accuracy, as NGOs and eyewitness accounts often contradict their official statements.  Furthermore, almost daily reports of continued conflict and mass casualties has very marginally, if at all, affected death tolls and combat statistics in the last several years. It is difficult for the international community to properly assess the humanitarian situation in this fragile country, as most humanitarian groups and journalists are still not allowed in the areas hardest hit by the war.

With all of the inconsistencies, illusions and untruths surrounding the Sri Lanka civil war, it’s difficult to properly comprehend the gravity of the situation for thousands of Sri Lanka citizens, and only those directly involved or affected by the fighting know the truth. It is important to remember that both sides of the conflict are using extensive propaganda to gain support, and much of the information provided by both parties is extremely skewed and often inaccurate. Additionally, following the SLA victory, several sites supporting or affiliated with the Tamil Tigers were taken off the web, such as tamiltigers.net and tamilnet.com, though tamilnet.com has since restored their site. I cannot confidently separate fact from fiction with this issue, but I will attempt to examine some key points of this conflict based on the information I’ve been able to assemble.

What’s all this fighting about?

The two main groups at war with each other are the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Tamil Tigers or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  LTTE formed in May 1976 in response to the segregation and oppression imposed upon the thousands of Tamil citizens living in Sri Lanka, spanning back as far as the late 40s, following Sri Lankan independence from Great Britain in 1948.

The mostly Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka began a colonization scheme shortly after Sri Lanka gained independence, which consisted of removing thousands of Tamil citizens from their homes and offering these now-vacant houses to Sinhalese citizens. In1948 the Sri Lanka government passed the Ceylon Citizenship Act, which essentially deprived more than one million Tamils of their citizenship, denying them the universal human right to nationality. In 1956, the government replaced English with Sinhala as the official language of Sri Lanka. Many Tamil government officials lost their jobs and all government administration was offered only in Sinhala, even in areas that were almost wholly Tamil-speaking. Outraged Tamil citizens and Tamil Federal Party members of parliament staged a non-violent sit in protest of this legislation, but the demonstration was unsuccessful, as it was broken up by a Sri Lanka nationalist group while police watched the violence that ensued – and apparently did nothing to stop it.  Riots broke out in the two years following this incident, during which properties were burned, Tamil citizens were assaulted and up to 300 people were murdered.

A Tamil citizen is pulled from his vehicle and beaten during a riot

Then, in the 1970, the Sri Lanka government attempted to remove Tamil culture from their country by banning the importation of all Tamil books, movies, magazines, etc., from Tamil Nadu, India. A few years later, the government raised entrance marks for prospective Tamil students wishing to attend university, requiring that Tamil citizens achieve higher marks on these exams than their Sinhalese peers to be granted entrance. The Sri Lanka government also imposed district quotas further limiting the number of Tamil students admitted to universities. The result of these education restrictions was a less than 15% Tamil student population in post-secondary schools. Apparently the government was attempting to deprive Tamils of their education to make them more compliant and less-informed, and ultimately less likely to revolt against the Sri Lankan government’s agenda for ethnic recomposition.

In the late 70s and early 80s, the Sri Lanka government began to detain, torture, and often kill Tamil citizens – mostly youth – in an attempt to gain information about Tamil militant groups that may be forming and planning to unite against the Sinhalese government. In 1981, a Sinhalese mob several-hundred strong destroyed many culturally important Tamil sites, including a newspaper office, marketplace, parliament building and library containing many culturally significant and irreplaceable Tamil documents and manuscripts. It is reported that members of the police force were involved in this rampage (and the killing of four civilians), though again, this could be propaganda, and must be considered a possibility rather than a fact.

In July1983, known as “Black July”, a group of Tamil Tigers ambushed a military convoy and killed 15 SLA soldiers. The backlash that resulted would become the major catalyst of the Sri Lanka civil war; a massive Sinhalese mob formed, armed with voter registration lists of Tamil citizens and seeking sanguinary revenge. An estimated 3,000 Tamil civilians were murdered, their homes pillaged and burned to the ground, their women raped and assaulted, while SLA soldiers and government officials stood by and watched the carnage unfold. Witnesses to the attacks reported the Sinhalese mob stopped traffic at busy intersections to determine the ethnicity of passengers in the vehicles, and set ablaze those vehicles containing Tamil passengers while they were trapped inside. Approximately 20,000 Tamil citizens were left homeless initially following the riots, and when the number of Tamil citizens in makeshift shelters rose to 50,000 the Sri Lanka government (with the help of India) began to send thousands of displaced Tamils north to India by boat. Black July served to even further radicalize Tamil militant groups in Sri Lanka – which were largely comprised of youths – and the LTTE emerged as the strongest force among them.

Young LTTE fighters

What’s happening now?

It is certain that Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the LTTE, along with the entire senior command, has been killed, though there have been contradictory reports as to how and when this occured.  The International Committee of the Red Cross reported LTTE offered to surrender to the SLA through their organization, which is somewhat surprising considering the supposed LTTE policy of death-before-surrender. The people of Sri Lanka were overjoyed with the news of an end to the relentless civil war that had ravaged their beautiful island nation for nearly three decades; there were parades in many parts of the country and the national flag doubled in price.

The Sri Lanka Army

Despite the massive wave of relief sweeping over Sri Lanka and much of the international community, the reality of the situation is that thousands of Sri Lanka citizens are left to deal with the scattered pieces of their broken lives, and the extreme polarity of media coverage from Sri Lanka only further exacerbates the plight of the many civilians affected by this war, as their situation is likely not being accurately represented and therefore cannot be properly addressed.

The United Nations and some NGOs have provided support to Sri Lanka citizens in Internationally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps; however, no humanitarian organizations were permitted inside the conflict zones during the war, and I have been unable to find information on the current status of the civilians that were trapped in these areas. According to ochaonline.un.org (the site for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), there are approximately 230,000 citizens in IDP camps, and a further 175,ooo requiring relief support.  The United Nations has also placed the total number of civilian casualties since 1983 at 80,000 to 100,000, with approximately7,000 civilian deaths since the beginning of 2009. The Sri Lanka government has reported over 6,000 SLA casualties and nearly 30,000 injured soldiers, as well as 22,000 Tamil Tiger casualties since July 2006, a period the Sri Lanka government has referred to as the beginning of the “Eelam War IV”, or the final stage of the civil war.

Young casualties of the Sri Lanka civil war

Now that the SLA has gained control of areas that were once contained by the LTTE, the government will be responsible for the welfare of the estimated 100,000 citizens that were trapped in these conflict zones. The Sri Lanka government has labelled the LTTE a terrorist organization and portrays the defeat of the Tamil Tigers as liberation of Tamil citizens, though it is very difficult to believe that these people will be cared for properly by the Sri Lanka government, as the SLA has also been accused of committing atrocities against Tamil civilians. Several reports surfaced during the war of attacks on makeshift Tamil hospitals by the SLA, and careless military shelling and firing in so-called “safe zones” killed hundreds of innocent Tamil civilians. Not surprisingly, the Sri Lanka government has accused the LTTE of human rights violations as well – often holding the Tigers responsible for accusations made against the SLA – including claims that Tamil Tigers used civilians as human shields. Both sides have been accused of conscription and even abduction of children to be used as front line soldiers, with UNICEF alleging 506 child soldiers remained in the LTTE by the end of 2008, despite their agreement in 2007 to release all recruits under 18 years of age.  The Tamil Peoples Liberation Tigers (TMVP) – a political party reported to have been working with the SLA – has also been accused (by the UN) of abducting children from IDP camps and recruiting child soldiers for the war, as well as committing assassinations, torture and extortion against LTTE members. With the government using miliary tactics to address a political situation and displaying very little regard for innocent civilians caught in the crossfire, there is significant concern that the thousands of citizens affected by this war will not receive proper aid from their government to rebuild their lives.

A civilian at the site of another attack for which neither side took responsibility

26 years ago, the Sri Lanka civil war began as a result of political unrest due to the segregation and discrimination of thousands of Tamil citizens living in Sri Lanka, who were simply pushing for equality and self-determination. Today, this political unrest remains and the nationalistic fervor that spurred some of the most tragic human rights violations in the country’s history is at an all-time high. There is significant distrust and strain between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil people, and this political divergence has only become more volatile throughout the civil war. Sri Lanka’s problems are far from over, and without democratic resolution of the issues that caused the conflict in the first place, this war-torn country will never see peace and is in grave danger of a bloody relapse. Tamil diasporas all over the world have not forgotten the atrocities committed against their people in the almost three-decade-long war, and it is likely that the LTTE or similar guerilla organizations will rise from the ashes with a prolific vengeance and substantial financial support to carry out their retaliative agenda.

The video below is a report from Al Jazeera, and I think it is an accurate and straightforward representation of the current state of Sri Lanka.  Another excellent source of unbiased information is http://savingsrilanka.wordpress.com, a blog dedicated to exposing the real truth about the plight of Sri Lanka.