When Elephants Fight (7 page)

Subsequently, Sinhala was made the official language of the newly formed country, contrary to an understanding that Tamil was also going to be recognized as an equal language.

Leaders in the Tamil community attempted to undertake political action to get the language recognized and to receive more rights and freedoms, especially in areas where the Tamils formed the majority. These efforts were not just supported in their community but by moderate
members of the Sinhalese community. But, there were also members of this community who strongly opposed the extension of minority rights. There was both political protest and violence against the moderates. The most extreme example of this occurred in 1959, when the prime minister, who was Sinhalese and wished to extend further minority rights, was assassinated by a Buddhist monk.

Continued efforts by good people in both communities to resolve these issues to allow minority rights to be protected were continually thwarted by extreme elements in both communities. Some Tamils simply wanted complete Tamil independence and would not consider anything less. Some Sinhalese wanted complete domination and would accept nothing less than Sri Lanka being considered a Sinhalese-Buddhist state. These extreme positions and people continually pushed the moderate majorities on both sides, and peaceful attempts to a political solution were unsuccessful. This situation combined with historical factors were the precursors for the eruption of a civil war.

Seeing no progress in the peaceful process of negotiation, some members of the Tamil community became more open to elements who believed that violence was the only solution. Various groups evolved under different leadership, but ultimately one organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), became the dominant military group. It was advocating for protection of Tamil rights and freedoms, a desire to create a semi-autonomous province within Sri Lanka or the creation of a completely separate Tamil nation in the areas in the north and east of the country where Tamils formed a majority of the people.

This group was funded by local Tamils, Tamils living abroad and sending back money, and, allegedly, by criminal activities that included robbing banks or government institutions.

While this conflict had been ongoing in some form for many years, the civil war is thought to have been ignited by two significant incidents. The Sri Lankan prime minister was assassinated by a suicide bomber believed to be Tamil. On July 23, 1983, the Tamil Tigers ambushed and killed thirteen members of the Sri Lankan army. The reaction involved mobs attacking and killing Tamils. Vehicles were stopped at intersections, and if the occupants were Tamils, the vehicle and people were set on fire. Tamil houses were set on fire, looted or destroyed. There are different accounts of the number of people
killed and homes destroyed. Estimates range from 400 to 3,000 deaths with 1,000 being generally accepted as a reasonably accurate number. There were between 10,000 and 18,000 homes destroyed, and the first mass exodus took place as tens of thousands of Tamils left the south and fled to the north, where Tamils felt safe. This has come to be known as Black July and is commemorated by the Tamil community every year through peaceful demonstrations around the world.

Some members of the Tamil community believe that the mobs were instigated by the government. While there is no credible and certain proof to support these allegations, it is clear that policemen and soldiers stood by in the early stages and did not attempt to stop the violence or protect the victims and their homes.

The conflict between the Sri Lankan forces and the forces of the LTTE originated as a battle between a regular military force and a guerilla group. The government forces were much more numerous, had the support of aircraft, heavy equipment and greater weaponry. They were supported by the majority Sinhalese population and controlled the vast majority of the country.

The LTTE utilized guerilla techniques, including ambushes, roadside bombings, suicide bombings and assassinations. These techniques resulted in the deaths of many civilians and innocent victims as well as members of the government forces.

As the civil war continued, the LTTE became better equipped, better trained and began engaging the Sri Lankan army in regular combat. They drove out government forces in sections of the north and east, effectively creating a separate and autonomous Tamil state.

The government responded to this by sending overwhelming forces, supported by aircraft, to attack the LTTE stronghold in Jaffna. It appeared that the siege and subsequent combat was on the verge of crushing the Tigers when India intervened in the civil war by using its highly superior air force to drop supplies to the Tamils, breaking the siege.

The role of the Indian government in its decision to intervene in another country's internal conflict was highly unusual. It was fueled by the facts that there were many Indian Tamils, that most Tamils are Hindu and that the southern part of India has a large Tamil population.

With the intervention of India, the conflict once again became a stalemate between the two forces. India then took the step, with cooperation of the Sri Lankan government, of sending in a large group of troops to those areas in the north and east where the conflict was taking place.
This group, known as the Indian Peace Keeping Mission, was mandated to supervise and separate the groups, attempt to disarm the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) and protect the rights of the Tamil population.

What started as a humanitarian effort quickly degenerated, and violence began between the Indian Peace Keeping Force and the Tamil Tigers. This conflict lasted for 32 months, ending in March, 1990. In that time there were over 1,000 Indian soldiers and an estimated 4,000 Tamils killed. This violence even continued after the withdrawal of the troops, when an LTTE woman assassinated the former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in a suicide bombing.

With the withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Force there was a power vacuum. The Sri Lankan government forces were not able to fill that gap, and rival Tamil factions fought, with the Tamil Tigers eventually taking control. They initiated many government services and, in essence, set up a temporary provisional government in some areas.

This shift also marked another phase, where battles erupted between Tamil and Muslim factions. It is estimated that up to twenty-eight thousand Muslims were forced to leave the Jaffna area in an instance of ethnic cleansing, moving south, fleeing in fear for their lives as homes and businesses were destroyed and people were killed. It was reported that burning bodies on the side of roads was a common sight. The government began again to use its troops and air force to bring the rebels under control. Aerial bombing was a constant threat to civilians throughout the area, and running gun battles between the Tamil Tigers and government forces often saw civilians and children as innocent victims caught in the cross fire.

In 2001, eighteen years after the commencement of the civil war, formal talks began about a cease-fire. This agreement, brokered by Norway, called for the government to drop its ban on the Tamil Tigers and allow a sharing of power and some regional autonomy. In exchange the Tigers were to drop their demand for an independent Tamil state. This agreement came into effect in 2002.

It is estimated that during the civil war over sixty-eight thousand people were killed, one million people were internally displaced within the country, and hundreds of thousands had left the country and were dispersed throughout the world.

The cease-fire was a temporary measure to allow the two sides to negotiate a lasting peace settlement that would satisfy all parties. While it started with hope and good faith, the negotiation process failed to find
a solution and the cease-fire was broken on a fairly regular basis.

The cover of an Amnesty International letter shows two child soldiers of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers guerrilla movement (LTTE) sent as part of a campaign in Colombo against the LTTE's recruitment of children
.

In 2006 the cease-fire was completely voided. In the first year of the resulting escalation of violence, it is believed that over 1,000 soldiers were killed and another 100,000 Tamils were displaced. The civil war is ongoing.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have operated in some form since the early 1970s. They originated as a small group, one of many, which were attempting to seek protection for the Tamil minority and form either a semi-autonomous Tamil state within the country of Sri Lanka or an independent state in the north and east of the island. Originally this group was small, poorly organized and funded and practiced, almost exclusively, guerilla techniques in its fight against the government forces.

As the conflict became a full-fledged civil war in 1983, the Tigers became the dominant group representing the movement for Tamil independence. They had not only
a military wing but a political wing that had international contacts. The organization became larger with over ten thousand men and women, was better funded and better trained and acquired more sophisticated weaponry. While they continued to utilize guerrilla tactics, they were able to engage the Sri Lankan security forces in more conventional battles.

The Tigers, while seen as freedom fighters by many Tamils, have carried on activities that have also had them labeled as terrorists. These activities include the extensive use of suicide bombings that have resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians; targeting political figures for assassination, including a Sri Lankan prime minister and a former Indian prime minister; killing innocent civilians; the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Jaffna; recruitment and use of child soldiers; and allegations of killing other Tamils who fostered other beliefs or supported other groups.

The Tigers have been listed as a terrorist organization by countries around the world, including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the entire European Union. This label is strongly refuted by the organization and members of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka and around the world. They deny many of the allegations and defend certain actions as being the consequences of an ongoing war for their rights and freedoms.

India is the giant to the north of Sri Lanka. It is the second largest country by population, having over one billion people, and the seventh largest by land mass. The two countries are connected by geography— Sri Lanka is an island just off the coast of India—and by history, both once being part of the British Empire and then becoming independent.

India is a highly diverse country that is primarily Hindu but has large populations of other religions, including the second largest Muslim population in the world. While the national language is Hindi, there are fourteen official languages and over 400 languages spoken in different parts of the country. The Tamil language is spoken by 61 million people in India, primarily in the south in the areas adjacent to Sri Lanka. This population dwarfs the Tamil population in Sri Lanka and is almost three times as large as the entire population of that county. At one point there was a dynasty that linked this population of Tamils with those in Sri Lanka, and during the reign of the British Empire, a million Indian Tamils were moved from India to Sri Lanka to work in the plantations.

India has always had an official or unofficial interest in Sri Lanka, which involved direct intervention—the airlift of materials into Jaffna and the Indian Peace Keeping Force—and indirect intervention, including allowing Tamil refugees to settle there, or allegations that they funded and trained Tamil independence factions.

India's involvement in Sri Lanka has had two primary interests that have been dictated by the reality of its large Tamil population. The country could not sit back and watch as Tamils were killed, which would risk inflaming their Tamil population, but it also feared that the formation of a separate Tamil nation in the north of Sri Lanka would inspire thoughts of independence in the Tamil population in India.

The four major religions of the world, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, all are represented in this small island nation.

Buddhism:
The Buddhist faith is practiced by over 300 million people throughout the world, with the largest concentrations being in Southeast Asia. It is 2,500 years old and is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gotama. While it has been subdivided into three major factions, all ascribe to a belief centered on finding the Middle Way, a code of life that seeks moderation, tolerance and acceptance. One of the primary precepts is that adherents should refrain from the taking of life of any living thing.

Hinduism:
It is the third largest religion in the world with over one billion adherents. It is centered on the Indian Subcontinent and the oldest of all major religions. It is based on the Vedas, texts which originated in ancient India. Within the religion is an acceptance that there are many gods and many diverse routes to salvation.