Vol. 72/No. 5      February 4, 2008

Along with military action, Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa said the government will make new proposals for a limited autonomy for the Tamils in the northern part of the island nation. The goal is to isolate the guerrillas from their base of support among the Tamil minority, the government said.

Both Pakistan and India, in competing to extend their influence in the region, have provided military aid to the Sri Lankan government. The U.S. government also aids the regime as part of its “global war on terrorism.”

Tamils make up 18 percent of Sri Lanka’s population, while 74 percent are Sinhalese. In the colonial administration under British rule, the Tamils were given jobs over the Sinhalese. At the same time, the British rulers brought Tamils from their colony in India to work as virtual slaves on tea plantations that previously belonged to Sinhalese peasants. These moves fostered divisions among working people and helped maintain colonial rule.

After the independence of Sri Lanka (previously Ceylon), successive Sinhalese-dominated governments passed laws to institutionalize the national oppression of the Tamil people, including the denial of language rights and discrimination in employment and university admissions. In 1983 a civil war broke out between the government and the Tamil Tigers.

Although the Sri Lankan government only officially withdrew from the cease-fire January 16, fighting with the Tamil Tigers had been escalating over the last two years.

The Sri Lankan government blamed the Tamil Tigers for a January 8 roadside bombing that killed a government minister, the first time in 19 months that a top-ranking official was killed.

Last November the Tamil guerrilla group said its most prominent international representative, S.P. Tamilselvan, was killed in a Sri Lankan air force bombing along with five other leaders of the group.

According to the Sri Lankan defense ministry, more than 4,800 people—civilians, government soldiers, and Tamil Tigers—have been killed in fighting since December 2005.

In an interview on the Indian television station NDTV, President Rajapaksa hinted that the government’s new proposal to isolate the Tamil Tigers includes trying to revive a 1987 accord with New Delhi under which India sent thousands of troops to fight the Tamil Tigers, the January 13 Hindustan Times reported. As part of that accord the Sri Lankan government amended the constitution to establish provincial councils with limited autonomy. The councils never functioned in the Tamil-speaking northeastern province.

The head of Sri Lanka’s navy praised the Indian navy for its help in destroying Tamil weapons supply vessels and floating warehouses, reported NDTV. Partly to counter Pakistan’s influence, India provides Sri Lanka with a broad range of military supplies, including low-flying detection radars, patrol ships, and artillery. Pakistan also provides substantial military aid to Sri Lanka and training for the country’s officers.

Admiral Robert Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, met with his Sri Lankan counterpart in the capital city of Colombo January 19, reported the Asian Tribune. The visit was a show of support by Washington for the battle against the Tamil Tigers.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home