At the beginning,India trained and financed the Tamil militant groups. It gave the LTTE manpower and the international recognition. The Elam War officially started in 1983 with Island wide communal riots. The FBI described the LTTE as the world’s deadliest terrorist group that had intricate worldwide network. The LTTE demand 1/3 of the land territory and 2/3 of the seacoast of the island for the country’s Tamil minority of less than 20%. The LTTE (The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) or the Tamil Tigers – a separatist militant organization that was founded in 1976 played a key role in the Eelam War. Prabhakaran, later proclaimed that he himself killed Mr.
As a result of series of conspiracies, the Jaffna mayor Mr Alfred Doreappa was assassinated in 1975. However, before 1976 the Tamil militancy was evolving as secret organizations that were formed by the youth in the North. The Eelam war started with the concept of a separate state that was proposed by the Tamil United Liberation Front or the TULF in 1976. It’s not a civil war… ( Lakshman Kadirgamar, at the BBC’s “Hardtalk) They still live very much in harmony and don’t forget a very large number of Tamil people live in the Western Province and the Central province and elsewhere, they get on perfectly well with their brothers & sisters of other communities.
“…The whole problem here is not between the Tamil people and the Sinhala people or the Muslim people. Lakshman Kadirgamar, -Former Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed his views on the Sri Lankan conflict in following manner. (Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka and Regional Security – Kumari Jayawardhana ) The growth of this consciousness impinged on the minorities in Sri Lanka to the extent that internal resolutions of the problems become impossible. In the past decade, Sri Lanka has been engulfed by political tragedy as successive governments have failed to settle the grievances of the Tamil minority in a way acceptable to the majority Sinhala population-(Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict – Jonathan Spence )Īssociate Professor of Political Science at the University of Colombo- Kumari Jayawardhana emphasizes that the history of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is the history of emergence of consciousness among the majority community, the Sinhala, which defined the Sri Lanka society as Sinhala-Buddhist, thus denying its multi-ethnic character. Jonathan Spence of the Yale University gives his views on the Sri Lankan conflict thus. Some view it as a terrorist problem and others give multifarious explanations. There are many definitions and elucidations on the Sri Lankan conflict. A tension between the government and Tamil militant groups had been looming since the 1970s and developed up to a major arm conflict. The repercussions started to emerge after the independence in 1948. The ethnic tensions became so intensified during the British colonial rule (1815 – 1948) that followed the divide and rule policy.
According to some historians, it dates back to the King Dutugamunu era with the South Indian invasion in 205 BC. Unlike the Vietnam War, the Eelam War had historical roots with hundreds of years of ethnic rivalry. Retrieved 2009).Įelam War was the Asia’s longest arm conflict, which lasted for nearly 30 years. The total defeat of the US forces in Vietnam was somewhat controversial and some have suggested, “the responsibility for the ultimate failure of the war lies not with the men who fought, but with those in Congress. Vietnam War ended with the defeat of the American forces in Vietnam and the Eelam War was won by the Sri Lankan armed forces. Of the estimated 2.5 million individuals who served in Vietnam, some 58,000 Americans lost their lives. Vietnam War was America’s longest war, spanning the twelve-year period from 1963 to 1975. However, both represent the horrors of war trauma in the 20 th Century. Vietnam War and the Elam War had many similarities and many differences. Nations customarily measure the ‘costs of war’ in dollars, lost production, or the number of soldiers killed or wounded.” But, “rarely do military establishments attempt to measure the costs of war in terms of individual suffering – Richard Gabriel