The background to the ethnic violence in Sri Lanka

(This is an edited version of a presentation made at a symposium organized by the Asia Foundation on Mapping Political and Ethnic Violence in Sri Lanka)

By M.C.M. Iqbal

1. Introduction

(December 16, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) When Sri Lanka became independent in 1948 it was considered to be a model of a democratic state poised for development. Since independence there had been regular elections except for the referendum in 1982. Governments had been changed through the electoral process. The growth rate showed a reasonable average upward trend until the ethnic problem emerged and led to an increase in defence spending.

The passing of an Act in 1956 making Sinhala the official language of Sri Lanka signaled the beginning of a series of events which led to the exacerbation of ethnic and political violence in the country culminating in the series of wars that resulted in bloodshed and stifled development activities.

This Asia Foundation project to map the political and ethnic violence that had taken place in the country makes an unbiased effort to take a look at the trends and patterns of the violence from a non-traditional angle, to enable the phenomena to be understood better and facilitate the dawn of peace.

2. Issues that exacerbated the violence

Though regrettable, events such as the disenfranchisement of the people living in the estate sector did take place soon after independence, they did not lead to any violent repercussions. Let us now look at some of the other issues that led to fouling of the relationship between the two major communities in Sri Lanka.

Colonization schemes

Successive governments continued to open up colonization schemes in the East ignoring the sentiments of the Tamils who saw the sinister motives behind of such efforts. Realizing that this would change the demography of the East, Tamil parliamentarians made futile attempts to stop such settlements. This was seen by them as a deliberate attempt by successive governments as a strategy to weaken the political clout of the minority Tamils in those districts. Consequently there had been many incidents of violence by and against those who had been settled in these areas.

Violation of language rights

Among the events that followed the enactment of the Official Language Only Act in 1956 was the emergence majoritarianism and the inevitable alienation of minorities. The enactment made most Tamils who did not know Sinhala, feel that they had been made illiterate overnight. All transactions with the State had to be in Sinhala and all non-Sinhala public officers had to become proficient in Sinhala within a stipulated time, if they wanted to continue in service. It was made compulsory for all new recruits to the public service to attain a degree of proficiency in Sinhala prior to being confirmed in service. All these led to further souring of the relationship between the two communities, making room for violent incidents, as it happened during the ‘tar brush’ campaign and the Sinhala “Sri” campaign.

Limitations on employment prospects

As stated earlier, the Official Language Act reduced employment prospects in the State Sector to Tamils who did not know or did not want to learn Sinhala. Even many Tamils who were already employed under the State and who did not want to learn Sinhala had to leave their employment. This led to discontent among the educated Tamils , especially the youth. This was later aggravated by other events that followed.

Quota System for University Admissions

Different quota systems were tried out to determine admissions to universities. Criticisms of the procedures followed resulted in changes in the procedures. Ultimately it was decided on the standardization of marks of aspirants for university admission. This was seen as an attempt to reduce admission of Tamils to universities to the advantage of Sinhala students. This added to the discontent among Tamils specially the youth. This in turn led to many of them leaving the country for higher studies or employment while many others with lesser resources joined militant movements working for the cause of the Tamils .

Extremism in the South and the North

After the events that followed 1956 the fundamental cultural values such as tolerance of dissent, sense of being people of one country etc., began to wane. Some politicians saw the time opportune to fan racism and rise to power in its wake. In the South it took the shape of chauvinism while the North responded with a call, initially for federalism and later for a separate state. Moderates on both sides had an uphill task mobilizing civil society to resist chauvinistic and secessionist tendencies. The vision of a pluralistic society with amicable and adequate power sharing with non-discriminatory resource distribution became a difficult goal to achieve.

The rise of militancy

All these multifarious issues led to more and more discontent especially among the youth and resulted in the birth of militant movements which aimed at solving the problems of the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka through the formation a separate state. The brutal attacks on Tamils in 1958, 1977 and later in 1983 with a large number of them being killed, followed in the later years by incidents of harassment of civilian Tamils at the hands of the security forces and misguided Sinhalese individuals, boosted the ranks of the militant movements to such an extent that they eventually became a force to be reckoned with.

4. The pattern of the violence ( Peaceful protests and violent responses )

Initially Tamils under the leadership of persons of the caliber of Mr. S.J.V.Selvanayagam, believed in peaceful protests to show their opposition to various measures which they thought were discriminatory. In 1956 when such a protest was staged by leading Tamil Members of Parliament on the Galle Face Green, they were set upon by thugs reportedly hired by the then ruling party. That showed them the futility of peaceful protests for the Tamil cause and the leaders had to later abandon this strategy.

Bank robberies

At the initial stages the Tamil militants did not have enough financial resources for their activities. So as a fund raising tactic they staged a series of bank robberies in the North to build up their cash reserves. Almost every branch of the banks operating in the North had been robbed one after the other. Soon many of the Banks had to wind up their activities in the North until the security situation became better. The events of 1983 gave a flip to the numbers in the cadres and also a boost to the financial strength of these movements. Generous contributions started flowing from the diaspora. This enabled the movements to purchase more arms needed for their struggle.

Attacks on land settlements schemes

As stated earlier, the colonization schemes where settlements had been established principally in the East became a target of violence. The militants who saw them as a strategy to weaken the Tamil cause commenced on a series of brutal attacks of settlements such as the Dollar Farm, the Kent Farm, Seruwila, Padaviya, Gomarankadawela, Maha Oya, Ampara and such others in an effort to discourage settlers from living in them. Some of the bloodiest incidents of violence against the Sinhalese had taken place in such settlements.

Killings of Tamil Leaders by Tamil militants

Not all the methods of the militants received the support of the Tamil political leaders. Though youth militancy was nurtured by them, soon they realized that they will not be able to control their activities. Those politicians who disagreed with them or found to be ignoring their wishes were made to pay with their lives. The killing of moderate parliamentarians like Amirthalingam, Yogeswaran, Dharmalingam and Neelan Tiruchelvam, are examples of such incidents.

Killing of security forces personnel

With the security forces taking stringent steps to check the spread of militancy, there had been many instances of security forces personnel being targetted with landmines or claymore mines killing large numbers of them. In 1990 all the policemen in the police stations in the East had to surrender to the LTTE and almost all of them disappeared. The attacks on the convoys of security personnel going on leave from the East, the attacks Nelliady Police Station, the Chavakachcheri Police Station, the attacks on the Army camps at Pooneryn, the Mullaitivu, Elephant Pass, etc and even the killings of IPKF personnel are some examples of such killings.

There had also been specific incidents of senior police officers, army and navy commanders too becoming victims of target killings by the militants.

Killing of Sinhala politicians.

Sinhala leaders were also not spared. Many of them were victims of suicide bombers. Besides leaders like Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali, Ranjan Wijeratne, and even the heads of state had been targeted. The killing of President Ranasinghe Premadasa stands out among the political killings in the South. President Chandrika Bandaranaike , escaped such an attempt with only an injury to her eye.

Reprisal killings

Following such incidents the security personnel went on sprees of reprisal killings almost on a tit for tat basis. The killings of 15 persons at Mullaitivu Vattarapalai Amman Temple, 8 others at Mandur, Batticaloa, 82 Tamils at Kokaddicholai, 15 at Kilali Lagoon, 9 at Kovilkulam, Vavuniya, are some examples. The map has a surfeit of such instances. Besides, a report of the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka states that there is clear evidence of the army being responsible for the disappearances of nearly 300 Tamils from Jaffna in 1996 following a bomb explosion which killed the Army Commander in Jaffna.

Ethnic cleansing

The Tamil militants embarked on an attempt at ethnic cleansing of areas that they claim to be traditional homelands of the Tamils. This attempt was successful in the districts of Jaffna, Mannar and Mullaitivu but not to that extent in the East. The Muslims of Jaffna, Mannar and Mullaivitu were ejected at very short notice after being threatened to be killed if they did not move out of the areas. These people were not allowed to take away any of their belongings, which were later taken away as booty by the militants themselves. The Muslims who had been forced to leave the traditional villages they occupied in the periphery of Kattankudy such as Ullikulam, Keechampalai, Manmunaitivu and Paalamunai are still living as internally displaced persons in the Kattankudy Divisional Secretary’s area. Such attempts to force Muslims in some other villages in the East only resulted in Tamil villages being attacked by Muslims or Muslim home guards, with or without the support of the security forces who were only too happy to help to keep the Muslim and Tamil communities in the East apart. Many Sinhalese living in the border villages in the East too had to face attempts at ethnic cleansing.

Detention and Torture

There is clear evidence of the widespread prevalence of detention and torture of persons taken into custody by the security forces during the period of this study. These had been facilitated by some of the provisions of the Emergency Regulations and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Many taken into custody in this manner have been detained for several years in places like the Kalutara and Boosa detention centres without any charges being framed against any of them. Several of them had been tortured before or while being confined in these centres. Most of them had been tortured to obtain confessions for use in the Court cases to follow under the PTA. Besides the Reports of the Presidential and other Commissions on Disappearances have commented on this fact and have stated that many who disappeared during this period were those taken into custody and detained under the Emergency Regulations or the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Efforts to contain the violence ( Cushioning the effects of Official Language Act)

In an effort to soften the effects of this Act the government passed the Reasonable Use of Tamil Act and the Language of the Courts Act. The Public Administration Ministry relaxed the rules that required Tamil public servants to attain a certain degree of proficiency in Sinhala for them to earn their increments and get promotions.

Emergency Regulations

Among all the measures taken to contain the spread of violence was the proclamation of a state of emergency in the country and the government availing itself of the provisions of the Public Security Act to bring the Emergency Regulations (ER) into force. These Regulations gave sweeping powers to the security forces to deal with the militants. However these provisions were largely abused as a result of which there is a universal abhorrence of the human rights community against availing of the provisions of the ER.

The ER only facilitated the rogue elements in the police and security services to harass not only Tamils but also Sinhala youth suspected of involvement in militancy. Such actions only helped, as stated earlier, to boost the strength of the Tamil militants numerically and enhance the image of the militants as the protectors of Tamils from harassment by the security forces.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act.(PTA)

This piece of legislation was introduced in desperation by the government which had problems of getting convictions of persons accused of complicity with the militants or having taken part in terrorist activities. The sweeping powers given to the police and the security forces by the ER were found to be inadequate to contain the terrorist activities of the militants. The PTA enabled persons to be arrested and detained for long periods incommunicado. Such persons could be produced in court and cases filed against them based solely on confessions made to designated police officers. Persons charged under the provisions of the PTA could be convicted on the basis of their confessions alone as confessions had been made admissible under the PTA. This is said to be the most obnoxious provision in the PTA which has been universally condemned by most human rights institutions and activists. It is sad to note that the operation of this Act which was suspended with the Ceasefire Agreement has once again been re-activated. The government has recently decided to add new provisions to make it still more rigorous. The consequences of these added provisions are yet to be seen.

Proscription of the LTTE

Another step taken by the state to check the activities of the LTTE was to proscribe it. Such a move only helped to drive the movement underground and involve in clandestine activities until the signing of the MOU very much later.

Constitutional changes

The Constitution of 1978 made a definite attempt to appease the Tamils by making Sinhala and Tamil the national languages of Sri Lanka. While it stated that Sinhala is the Official Language of Sri Lanka, it is also stated in the Constitution that the language of administration in the North and the East shall be Tamil. Besides, it includes a provision that made it mandatory for specified provisions to be amended first by a referendum and later passed by a 2/3rds majority in Parliament. Two of these specified provisions are directly connected to the ethnic issues.

In 1980 the government offered the District Development Councils system with delegated powers. But this did not produce the expected results. Thereafter in 1987 the Provincial Councils system was introduced through the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This provided for power sharing between the central and provincial governments. This was rejected by the LTTE saying that it did not fulfill their aspirations . The IPKF was then brought in to keep the LTTE from obstructing the functioning of the newly created provincial council system which some of the other militant groups accepted. The LTTE chose to seek refuge in the jungles and operate from there. Consequently the violence continued with new players, namely, the IPKF in the arena. The map shows many instances of political violence against the IPKF and retaliatory action by the IPKF itself.

Human Rights Institutions.

As a measure of providing easy access to redress on behalf of those whose rights have been violated due to violence or infringement of rights of individuals the government initially established the Human Rights Task Force in 1991 and later the Human Rights Commission in 1997. Though these institutions had an effect in bringing about a drop in the violation of human rights by the police and the security forces, unlawful detentions, abductions and especially torture continued to prevail.

Ceasefire Agreement

Since all efforts to check political and ethnic violence failed, in 2001 the government entered into a Memorandum of Understanding and signed a ceasefire agreement with the LTTE. This saw a temporary cessation of hostilities. With the nearing of the end of the period of President Chandrika Bandaranaike violence started escalating and reached alarming proportions with the assumption of office by President Mahinda Rajapakse, perhaps due to some of the moves he made soon afterwards.

Conclusion

The types of events and incidents dealt with in this exercise to map political and ethnic violence remind us of an oft quoted saying of a famous historian ‘ history teaches that no one learns from history’ . The list of events and incidents given in the map amply confirm the veracity of this statement. There is no record in history of violence having been effectively stopped with counter violence. Even Lord Buddha had stated that hatred cannot be abated by hatred. Yet we see both parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka repeatedly indulging in this fruitless exercise. Repressive measures such as some of the laws enacted and regulations imposed can never help to inhibit militancy emerging out of a marginalized community in turmoil. At worst they only help to embitter the minds of the people concerned. Those who are going to be affected by such measures will be mostly the ordinary citizens and not so much as those who are targeted by such measures. Enough has not been done in all earnest to address the causes of the conflict. Inflaming racist feelings could never bring peace to a pluralist society. The mapping exercise clearly shows how none of the violent incidents in reprisal or other wise, military or non-military , have succeeded over the years to bring peace to this land. In fact, such measures have made many youth leave the country in disgust or join the militants. This has had the undesirable consequence of boosting the diasporas and the cadres of the militant movements and prolonging the conflict. Besides, the State turning a Nelsonian eye to the bad eggs amidst the police and security forces personnel who indulge in excesses, has only led to the perpetration of the cult of impunity amongst them. Not taking action against such miscreants on the pretext that the morale of the forces will be affected if action is taken, is not a valid reason for turning a blind eye to such incidents. It is important to ensure the image of the state as the protector of all citizens without any discrimination , is maintained.

It cannot be denied that the events and incidents referred to, are going to be remembered and re-remembered by both communities in different ways in the years to come. The children of today are going to grow up with prejudiced minds. The intensity of public interest in the consequences of the violence that has taken place and is continuing. It may immerge in cycles in the future as it happens with regard to the horrors of World War II. In choosing to document and analyse the trends and patterns of these events and incidents, it is re-iterated that an unbiased attempt is being made by The Asia Foundation to place on record authentic information with a view to enable posterity to understand the painful parts of the history of our nation in a proper perspective. It is hoped that this will help to place the country in a stronger position to move towards peace and build a more stable future, less likely to be threatened with tensions and conflicts of the kind we see today. Since the conflict is ongoing , this process may have to continue for a long period. Yet, making a formal start to address these painful memories could eventually transform these events and incidents from a source of subdued pain to a point of public understanding and acknowledgement. That would obviate the inevitable consequence of future generations of Sri Lankans having to live in the shadow of an unresolved past.

-Sri Lanka Guardian