What underlies the conflict is the idea that Sri Lanka is not a nation defined by geography, but by competing races.

From the Guardian:

"Sri Lanka's identity war

The Tamil Tigers are facing military defeat, but victory will be pyrrhic unless the Sinhalese rethink their supremacist attitudes

Comments (20)

• 
• • Randeep Ramesh
  • guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 February 2009 13.00 GMT
  • Article history

The speech by Sri Lanka's president claiming the extinction of the Tamil Tigers might signal the end of a war, but not of the fighting. What underlies the conflict is the idea that Sri Lanka is not a nation defined by geography, but by competing races.

The Indian Ocean island is home to a bewildering array of subnational and communal identities. There are Sinhalese Buddhists, Tamil Hindus, Tamil Christians, Dutch Burghers and Tamil-speaking Muslims known as Moors.

It now looks like two ancient civilisations – Tamils and Sinhalese – are locked in a Manichean struggle. The leadership of both peoples increasingly see Sri Lanka as an arena for conflict between absolute good and absolute evil. As both sides view the other as Satan, they both scorn compromise.

What we have here is south Asia's curse of identity violence. Once a group – be it defined by ethnicity or caste or creed – acquires the status of a nation it becomes intolerant of all others. There's no doubt the failure of the Sinhalese in the 1960s to include Tamils in a national political project sowed the seeds of today's conflict.

In India, it is Hindu nationalists who question minority rights and want to reduce Muslims and Christians to second-class citizens. Pakistan, an Islamic republic, has its Sunni-Shia schism and the split between Punjab and the rest of the country. Bhutan's Buddhists expel Nepali Hindu immigrants.

This view of the world is aired openly in public. Sri Lanka's army chief Sarath Fonseka thought little of saying that the country "belongs to the Sinhalese … [minorities] can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."

In this mindset, minorities exist merely on the goodwill of the majority. The most inclusive identity of all – being Sri Lankan – is a vanishing option for Tamils while Sinhalese thought is being slowly overtaken by fantasises of a Buddhist nirvana off the tip of India.

Bizarrely, statues of Gautama, icon of peace, have been used by the Sri Lankan state to mark territory seized from terrorists. Reducing every non-Sinhalese to a possible terrorist leads to dangerous waters. Sri Lanka must be the only democracy in the world to bomb its own citizens.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam suffer from a bloody version of this psychosis. There is little in the Tigers' revolutionary make-up that suggests were they ever to have created a state in the north and east of Sri Lanka that Sinhalese minorities would have felt safe. They have continued to murder Tamils who disagree with them – most notably, Sri Lanka's foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

The LTTE spent the ceasefire years rearming rather than rebuilding links with the mainland – a preference for militarism that led the group to decide not to back Sinhala politicians ready to do a deal with them.

The result was that Mahinda Rajapaksa, a populist Sinhala politician, won the presidency in 2005 rather than Ranil Wickramasinghe, who relied upon Tamil votes and who as prime minister had signed a ceasefire agreement with the LTTE in 2002. Rajapaksa has been the nemesis of Tiger hubris.

But the blame rests on both sides. The state's failure to devolve power into smaller units to take care of the ethnic and linguistic needs of a region left no safety valve for Tamil grievances. The Tamil population has been in thrall to men of violence, justifying slaughter with slogans of self-determination.

In this brief moment of victory, Sri Lankan politicians will have to ponder the cost. They will admit perhaps only to themselves that human rights have disappeared, opponents have been exterminated and innocent lives have been lost. Sinhalese leaders will have to deal with a brutalised Tamil population.

In picking up the pieces, perhaps Sri Lanka's establishment will eventually see that a total partisan victory is unattainable. The Tigers may have got a beating but there's little to stop them from returning to old-fashioned terrorism. Suicide bombers, assassination squads and guerrilla units are most likely to re-emerge unless there is a political settlement acceptable to all.

Identity politics makes this more difficult, but not impossible. To end this bloody cycle, both sides need to realise that conflict is part of human life – and rather than let it spin into violence, it should be fought with words."

Me:

DonthelibertDem

05 Feb 09, 10:10pm (1 minute ago)

"But the blame rests on both sides. The state's failure to devolve power into smaller units to take care of the ethnic and linguistic needs of a region left no safety valve for Tamil grievances. The Tamil population has been in thrall to men of violence, justifying slaughter with slogans of self-determination.

In this brief moment of victory, Sri Lankan politicians will have to ponder the cost. They will admit perhaps only to themselves that human rights have disappeared, opponents have been exterminated and innocent lives have been lost. Sinhalese leaders will have to deal with a brutalised Tamil population.

In picking up the pieces, perhaps Sri Lanka's establishment will eventually see that a total partisan victory is unattainable. The Tigers may have got a beating but there's little to stop them from returning to old-fashioned terrorism. Suicide bombers, assassination squads and guerrilla units are most likely to re-emerge unless there is a political settlement acceptable to all.

Identity politics makes this more difficult, but not impossible. To end this bloody cycle, both sides need to realise that conflict is part of human life – and rather than let it spin into violence, it should be fought with words."

We should certainly call for better treatment of minorities, human rights, freedom of the press, etc. We should also demand that no war crimes be committed. Now is also the time for the Tigers to disband.

As for anger at pressure from the rest of the world, it might have just worked in North Kivu silently, by countries pressuring Rwanda to cooperate with the Congo. But I don't agree with Randeep on this. Nothing could be worse than the indifference towards the Congo, or pussyfooting for thirty years with Mugabe. If you want people to notice the conflict, and help end it, you have to offer them the means of expressing that anger. Otherwise, they'll direct their attention elsewhere, where people won't be telling them to help but shut up.

"The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people."

A Sri Lanka report:

"COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan forces captured the strategic Elephant Pass base from the Tamil Tiger rebels on Friday, ousting them from their last stronghold on the Jaffna Peninsula and boxing them into a shrinking pocket of land in the northeast.( THEY ARE IN TROUBLE. )

Skip to next paragraph

The New York Times

The capture of the base gives the government nearly full control of the northern peninsula, the rebels’ cultural capital, for the first time since 2000. It also puts the country’s major north-south highway completely under its control for the first time in 23 years.

The rebels are now confined to a small area of jungle around their last remaining stronghold, Mullaittivu.

In a nationally televised address, President Mahinda Rajapaksa praised the victory. “Our soldiers by this evening have been able to totally liberate Elephant Pass” from the rebels, he said.

There was no comment from the rebels, also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The government, which seized the rebels’ administrative capital, Kilinochchi, last week, has promised to crush the rebel group and end Sri Lanka’s 25-year-old civil war.

But in a reminder of the rebels’ ability to cause destruction even as they suffer conventional defeats, the rebels detonated a roadside bomb( THIS WILL BECOME THEIR STRATEGY AGAIN ) in the country’s east on Friday that killed three air force troops and four civilians, said a military spokesman, Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara.

The attack outside the eastern city of Trincomalee signaled a return to guerrilla tactics( YES ). The government captured the east from the rebels in 2007, but attacks in the area have increased in recent months.

On Friday, government forces marching from the north and south broke into Elephant Pass and fought heavy battles with the rebels, the military said. The base is on the isthmus connecting the northern Jaffna Peninsula with the rest of the island in the Indian Ocean.

Analysts said the guerrillas appeared to have withdrawn their artillery and heavy weaponry from the area and were sacrificing their bases on the peninsula to consolidate forces near Mullaittivu, where they will probably make a stand.

Human rights groups have warned that casualties among the hundreds of thousands of civilians living in the shrinking pocket of rebel territory were likely to mount as the government closed in on the insurgents.( THIS IS MY CONCERN )

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalization by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. The conflict has killed more than 70,000( 70,000) people.

Troops south of Jaffna were also fighting the rebels, pushing east from the Kilinochchi area, Brigadier Nanayakkara said. The troops found the bodies of seven insurgents from fighting Thursday, he said."

I would hope that the government reaches out to Tamils, to try and isolate the Tigers after this conflict winds down. Otherwise, Sri Lanka can expect a return of suicide bombings and terrorist attacks.

called on both sides ''to conduct their war in a way that the civilians are not affected or punished''

Checking in on Sri Lanka. From the NY Times:

"COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Sri Lankan forces overran another village Monday and moved closer to seizing a strategic base from the Tamil Tigers, but concerns are mounting for the hundreds of thousands of civilians living in the rebels' shrinking territory( THIS IS CRUCIAL ).

The government has chased the rebels out of much of their de facto state in the north in recent months -- taking their administrative capital of Kilinochchi last week -- but the offensive is complicated by the presence of an estimated 300,000 civilians in rebel territory.

The rebels now occupy a slice of jungle slightly larger than the city of Los Angeles.

As civilians increasingly get in the way of the battle, it could become difficult for the government to fight on without causing an unacceptable loss of life, human rights activists and some Western diplomats said.( I AGREE )

The government says it has no intention of giving up its recent momentum but will do everything it can to avoid civilian casualties.

''We are taking the utmost precautionary measures,'' said defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella. He declined to outline what those precautions where.( BS )

Government troops on Monday captured the rebel-held town of Oddusudan, which sits at an important crossroads leading to the Tamil Tiger stronghold of Mullaittivu, according to military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara.

Troops also moved closer to capturing the Elephant Pass stronghold, a strategic chokepoint just south of the government-controlled Jaffna peninsula, the military said. Seizing Elephant Pass would cut off the rebels' heavily fortified front line on the peninsula from the rest of their remaining territory.

The rebels are fighting to create an independent homeland for minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalization by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. Some analysts say this is the military's best chance ever of defeating the rebels and ending the 25-year-old civil war, which has killed more than 70,000( 70,000 ) people.( TRUE )

Mano Ganesan, an opposition lawmaker, called on both sides ''to conduct their war in a way that the civilians are not affected or punished'' and asked that a group of observers from all political parties be allowed in the war zone. ( PLEASE )

Last month, Human Rights Watch accused the rebels of preventing civilians from fleeing the area under their control. The New York-based group also accused the government of arbitrarily detaining and mistreating the estimated 1,000 civilians who fled across the front lines.

While the military has avoided large-scale civilian casualties in its latest offensive, reports of civilian deaths have grown in recent days.

The Tamil Tigers said in a statement that six civilians were killed and 20 injured in artillery attacks and air strikes in the Mullaittivu district Friday. On Sunday, artillery attacks wounded 14 more civilians, they said.

Independent confirmation of the casualties was not available because the government bars journalists from the war zone and from entering rebel territory.( BAD NEWS )

Despite the growing threat, there has been no mass movement of civilians out of the area.

Large-scale civilian casualties could spark pressure on Sri Lanka from neighboring India -- which has a large ethnic Tamil population of its own, said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives think tank.

''At the present moment (officials) are of the mood that, 'We've got them on the run let's finish it,''' he said. ''But they must be aware that 'finishing it' be done in a way that does not provoke outside intervention.''

We need to keep an eye on all these conflicts in order to ensure that the combatants are aware that War Crimes will not go unnoticed or unrecorded.

"There has to be a devolution package which goes beyond the stale token concessions which various Sri Lankan governments have offered"

Some wars never seem to end. Jonathan Steele in the Guardian:

"Behind a wall of censorship horrendous battles are under way in northern Sri Lanka. The details are unclear since no independent reporters have been allowed access, and both sides – the government army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – give out bombastic and unverifiable casualty figures.

But through the fog of war a dreadful outline emerges. According to international aid agencies about a quarter of a million people ( 250,000 ) have been made homeless by conflict in the area which the Tigers once controlled behind officially agreed ceasefire lines. The government repudiated the ceasefire a year ago, and its army has made major advances towards the Tigers' political capital, Kilinochchi, as well as its military stronghold, Mullaitivu, on the north-east coast.

The government's boast of finishing the Tigers off in this high-casualty war has not yet been fulfilled. The army was bogged down for several weeks in monsoon rains in October and November, and in a typical battle on Monday the military admitted losing 25 soldiers even as they claimed to have killed 120 Tiger troops.

With its back to the jungle, the Tigers are stepping up pressure on civilians to defend their dwindling area of control, according to a Human Rights Watch report this week. "Trapped in the LTTE's iron fist, ordinary Tamils are forcibly recruited as fighters and forced to engage in dangerous labour near the front lines" ( THIS SEEMS TO BE A WORLDWIDE PRACTICE ), Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director said on Monday. "It has recently gone beyond its longstanding 'one person per family' forced recruitment policy and now sometimes requires two or more family members to join its ranks. The LTTE claims to be fighting for the Tamil people, but it is responsible for much of the suffering of civilians" ( FIGHTING FOR THE PEOPLE. THEY JUST WANT PEACE ).

The government, meanwhile, urges civilians to flee the Tiger areas and houses them in so-called welfare camps, which independent sources describe as detention camps ( UNREAL ). There government-paid informers wearing masks walk through the ranks of the displaced, identifying people as alleged Tiger supporters who are promptly detained ( VERY DECENT ).

Caught in the middle politically, civilians are also suffering massive privation. Since September, all foreign aid workers with the exception of the International Committee of the Red Cross have been barred from Tiger areas. The government has only let a handful of food convoys in ( THEIR STARVATION IS NECESSARY FOR THEIR GETTING A BETTER LIFE, APPARENTLY ).

The government's military advance has changed the political balance in Colombo. A rising tide of Sinhalese chauvinism has led the army commander to claim the island belongs to the Sinhalese Buddhist majority, while leading members of the political party founded by Buddhist monks describe all non-Sinhalese as descendants of visitors. The long-accepted consensus that Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic home for several communities – Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian, is becoming politically incorrect in the minds of the country's current power holders( SECTARIANISM ON THE RISE ). The United National Party, the official opposition that brokered the 2002 ceasefire which now lies in tatters, has succumbed to the dangerous new mood. It, too, supports the government's goal of "military victory".

Were it to be achieved, Sri Lanka's problems would not be solved. The Tigers have always turned to suicide bombings ( I DON"T THINK THAT RELIGION FIGURES IN HERE ) and other atrocities in times of trouble. Forcing them out of their areas of territorial control will not produce peace. It will only condemn Sri Lanka's towns and villages to terrorist reprisals. Moderate Tamils do not support the Tiger's methods but they share the Tiger view that the island's current constitution does not offer fairness to non-Sinhalese populations. There has to be a devolution package which goes beyond the stale token concessions which various Sri Lankan governments have offered over the past two decades

Ironically, the only constructive proposals made since the crisis started came from the LTTE in 2003. Their suggested Internal Self-Governing Authority is over-ambitious but it has never been matched by a detailed blueprint from the government side. Until the government comes up with a realistic offer, which will have to involve elements of a federation, there will be no cause for celebration and no chance of compromise and peace."

This war needs to end before there is no population left. Realistically, there does seem to need to be a compromise, with the Tamil areas having some sort of self-determination.