It's time for a new beginning (:

STUDYING IH. haha. ignore.


SRI LANKA: Reasons for Conflict.

Political reasons:

Sri Lanka achieved independence in 1948. Only those whose grandfathers or fathers were born in Sri lanka were given Sri Lankan citizenship. The rest were thus rendered stateless. (stateless meant that they were deprived of citizenship privileges and benefits, as well as the right to vote. This meant that they had no say in the country)

In 1964, India decided to help its Indian Tamils which were residing in Sri Lanka. Negotiations were made. Thus, a certain number of Indian Tamils were allowed to return to India. However, not all could return due to overcrowding and poverty which India was already suffereing from. The rest of the Indian tamils remaining in Sri Lanka were to be given Sri Lankan citizenship. However, the Sri Lankan government did not honor the agreement.

Social reasons:

(a)Jobs in the civil service

(BEFORE INDEPENDENCE 1948)

English-educated Tamils were given jobs in the civil service and promotions. They gained some of the high posts in the civil services. The Sinhalese, although the majority in number, were disadvantaged because they could not read or write english well.

(AFTER INDEPENDENCE 1948)

The 1956 Official Language Act stated that Sinhalese would be the only language of administration in Sri Lanka. Tamils had 3 years to study the language or else they would be dismissed of their posts in the civil service.

(REACTION OF TAMILS)

The tamils were very upset and unhappy as they could not secure jobs or promotions. A peaceful demonstration act was held, but it was disrupted by the Sinhalese. Fighting and riots began, and there were many casualties.

(ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE THE SITUATION)

In end july 1957, the PM of Sri Lanka made an agreement with the leader of the tamil tigers that Tamil would be the language of the minority, that it would be the language of administration in Northern and Eastern States.

(RESULTS OF AGREEMENT)

There was a strong protest from the Sinhalese, thus the agreement was withdrawn in 1958. The tensions between the tamils and sinhalese increased, more fighting took place, and more casualties.

(1987)

The Sri Lankan Constitution granted a greater measure of recognition to the Tamil Language. Since then, Tamil has been made a language of administration in North and Eastern parts of Srilanka. It has also become an official language in Sri Lanka. English was encouraged.

(B) University Admission

(BEFORE 1970)

Before 1970, university admission was based on examination and merit which were taken in English. The number of students admitted into medical and engineering courses was almost equal. Sinhalese were displeased as this was not proportional to the larger number of Sinhalese in the country.

(AFTER 1970, Change in education policies)

It now became compulsory for tamil students to score higher than the Sinhalese to get into the same courses.

(SIGNIFICANCE TO TAMILS)

Tamil youths were upset and dissatisfied with the education policies which they deemed as unfair. The significance was that it now became difficult to qualify for admission, especially in prestigious courses such as medicine and engineering.

(C) RESETTLEMENT

Sinhalese farmers were resettled from north-western and central areas to Tamil areas. The goverment's aim was to provide land for sinhalese peasants to live in as well as to cultivate rice. However, the sinhalese peasnats were also accompanied by buddhist monks and the army(mostly sinhalese)

(SIGNIFICANT OF RESETTLEMENT)

-The tamils were unhappy because they felt as if their homeland had been invaded. Their traditional way of life, culture, religion and language were being threatened and eroded.

RESULTS OF CONFLICT:

Deah, disability and displancement

There were hundreds and thousands of people displaced. Refugees overflowed into India. Many people were also dead or missing. Also, many people were either injured or paralysed, thus they are not able to go to school or support themselves financially.

Loss of jobs

Riots occurred in july 1983, this resulted in looting, burning and vandalising. Many companies and factories closed down. Many soul breadwinners of their families lost jobs.

Destruction of infrastructure

Roads and buildings were destroyed in the rebel areas and the capital. This meant that there was no running water or electricity in the rebel areas, which is the run-off effect of poverty and malnurition.

Loss of foreign investments

Riots caused Sri Lanka to be seen as an unstable and unsafe place. Therefore, investors shunned Sri Lanka due to a lack of confidence; They saw it as a volatile environment which was not conducive for business operations. Thus, investments dropped and there was little or no economic growth. The economy of sri lanka was affected badly.

Fall in tourism

Riots resulted in a loss of order in the country. This resulted in a decrease in the number of tourists in the country. Thus, there was a loss of jobs of those working in the tourism industry, such as waitresses, tour guides, tour agencies etc. This meant that there was a loss of income for the country which also meant that there were less funds for development.

Foreign intervention

In the 1983 riots, India tried to act as a mediator between sinhalese and tamils. Dialogue failed as there were no agreements between sinhalese and tamils. Sri lankan government therefore loss sovereignty because of the lack of ability to make decisions for themselves. We can infer from this that Sri Lanka attracted alot of unwanted foreign attention

Also, in June 1987, the indian government used indian ships to deliver food and petroleum products to the indian tamils in Jaffna. However, these ships were stopped and turned back to return to India by the sri lankan navy. Then, India deployed its airforce to deliver food and medical supplies. This invaded the sri lanka airspace.

In july 1987, the sri lankan agreed to a peace accord with the India. This meant that there was to be a ceasefire between the two groups. Tamil tigers were to surrender their weapons to the indian peacekeeping forces. Merging of Tamil dominated the northern and eastern states of sri lanka.

In October 1987, the tamil tigers refused to fully surrender their weapons. The indian peacekeeping troops thus had to take jaffna by force. Clashes in the northern and eastern stated continued up to 1988 between the tamil tigers and the indian peacekeeping troops.

March 1990, the indian peacekeeping troops withdrew.


Child Conscription

For years, the LTTE has been abducting children to be trained and recruited as child soldiers. Due to the decrease in number of male conscripts, LTTE also uses women soldiers.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. DONE WITH SRILANKA!!!
but thats the easy part........... GOD WILL NV FAIL :)