A Political Solution to the Ethnic Conflict in Chelvadurai Manogaran

The ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese Peninsula from the mainland. cause the peninsula, with its closely knit majority and the Tamil minority in Sri They encountered major setbacks along settlements, tall fences and market gar- Lanka began in the mid-1950s, yet little the routes, especially in Vavuniya and dens, is very densely populated. While progress has been made at the negotiat- Kokkavil, and had to change their origi- the security forces may succeed in inflict- ing table to settle their differences on the nal strategy. Instead of gaining control of ing heavy losses on the local population issues of regional autonomy for Tamil the main roads leading to the peninsula and the militants by attacking from the areas, colonization and economic devel- from the mainland, they strengthened air and sea, they would face tough resist- opment of Tamil-dominated districts. their positions around the peninsula, in- ance from the militants on land. Indeed, The military confrontation between the cluding the Elephant Pass and the is- there will be heavy losses on both sides if Tamil militants and government forces, lands to the west. the attack were on land. It is not known which accelerated with the anti-Tamil By controllingthe land and sea entry what military strategythe army will ulti- riots of 1983, has resulted in a de facto points to the Jaffna Peninsula, the army mately adopt to launch its final assault separation of the island into a Sinhalese sealed it off from the mainland and pre- on the Jaffna Peninsula, but it is safe to majority region and a Tamil majority re- vented the LTTE from moving freely state that the odds of the Sri Lankan gov- gion. Whatever impact the Tamil mili- between the two locations. ernment defeating a guerrilla army, tant movement has on the geopolitics of has been virtually sealed off from the which has the support of the population Sri Lanka and South Asia, its activities Jaffna Peninsula, after the Indian gov- of the peninsula, is doubtful. A massive are largely confined to a well defined ernment moved a number of ships into assault on the peninsula will result in the region in the North-East Province where the Pak Straits to patrol the Indian coast genocide of the Tamils. the Tamil-speaking people are in the ab- and enforced strict security measures to The govemment cannot, however, solute majority. When the Indian Peace- prevent militants from entering or leav- prolong this war because it costs thou- Keeping Force (IPKF) was deployed in ing. A high-ranking LTTE leader, sands of dollars to maintain and supply the North-East Province, only Tamil Sathasivam Krishnakumar (alias Kittu), the troops every day. The World Bank, majority areas were under the direct su- lost his life on January 16, 1993 while the International Monetary Fund and pervision of the IPKF, while the Sinhalese attempting to reach the Jaffna Peninsula donor countries have shown reluctance majority areas in that province remained by sea.' The army hopes to defeat the to furnish additional loans to Sri Lanka largely under the control of Sri Lankan LTTE and to find a political solution to unless a real effort is made to put an end security forces. the ethnic problem by blockading the to the ethnic problem. Large portions of rural sections of the Jaffna peninsula, besieging it by launch- In addition, international pressure Tamil majority region continued to re- ing attacks from land, sea and air. from human rights groups, including the main under LTTE control when the war There are no indications, however, UN Subcommittee on Human Rights between the government security forces that the security forces have complete and donor countries, may eventually and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam control over the Northern Province or compel Sri Lanka to halt human rights (LTTE) resumed in June 1990. By late over most of the rural areasin the Eastern violations and find a solution to the eth- 1990, govemment forces attempted to Province. Although they control the nicconflict. Therefore, the future of peace bring the Northern Province under their town of Vavuniya, the surrounding ar- in Sri Lanka and government's military control by launching attacks on key eas are under the controlof militants. The operations in the North will depend on towns along the main routes leading to army has already cut off food supplies, how fast it will respond to international the Jaffna Peninsula, the militant strong- electric power and gasoline to the penin- pressure, both on the questions on hu- hold. At the outset, the security forces sula. It also intends to isolate the LTTE man rights violations and on the use of attempted a three-pronged attack on the from the one million civilians of the re- borrowed money to fight the militants. gionby mounting massive attacks on the At this stage, there are no signs that the Peninsula, using its air and artillery army or the LlTE is willing to cease hos- Profrssor Manogaran teaches geography and inter- power. There is little doubt that these tilities and to find a political settlementto national stud& at the Uniwsihi ofWisconsin- military tactics will only result in the kill- the conflict. Nevertheless, there are indi- parkside, Kenosha, isc cons in a&i; theauthor of ing of thousands of Tamil civilians, since cations, given the statements made re- Ethnic Conflict and Reconciliation in Sri is it impossible to isolate LTTE hide-outs cently by the LTTE leader, Veluppillai Lanka (Honolulu: Uniwsity of Hawaii Press, from civilian settlements, especially be- 1987). Prabhakaran, in an interview to the Brit-

Rejkge, Vol. 13, No. 3 (June 1993) 23 ish Broadcasting Corporation, that the Sinhalese should be given the opportu- fixed quota of Sinhaleseto settlein Tamil militants may be willing to negotiate a nity to live in clearly defined, separate districts is not going to end the ethnic political settlement if the Sinhalese- AGA divisionsin theEastemProvince.If conflict. Most of the violent incidentsin- dominated government was willing to these readjustments to the boundary of volving brutal killings of civilians by amend the constitution to grant semi- the Eastern Province were accompanied government forces and Tamil militants regional autonomy in order to the Tamil- with the establishment of a full-fledged have occurred in Tamil majority AGA majority region, under a full-fledged federal system of government for the is- divisions rather than in the Sinhalese federal system of governmenL2 land, the members of the L'ITE may be majority AGA divisions of Eastern Prov- Since the ethnic composition of the willing to enter into the political main- ince. Moreover, the Tamil majority AGA Eastern province where Tamil, stream. Tamil militants have called upon divisions, which have been increasingly Sinhalese and Muslim populations are the government to halt the policy of colo- targeted for Sinhalese colonization since equally divided, is so complex, it is im- nizing Sinhalese in Tamil areas because 1983, have generated most of the refu- possible to find a lasting political solu- they fear that the govemment will carve gees in the Eastern Province. tion to the ethnic problem even under a out more Sinhalese electorates, in addi- It is feasible to preserve the territorial federal system of government. Moreo- tion to the existent Amparai and integrity of Tamil majority AGA divi- ver, the Sinhala majority willnot accept a, Seruwila electorates. The LTTE became sions under a federal system of govern- situation in which the LlTE is given the belligerent when thegovernment openly ment by redefining the boundaries of the complete control of the North-East challenged it by attempting to settle North-East Province using the 1981 Cen- Province under a federal system of gov- ernment, which includes many Sinhalese-majority divisions. This does One possible solution to the ethnic conflict in Sn' Lanka is to not imply that the LTTE and the Sri Lankan forces have no alternative but to readjust the boundaries of the North-East Province, which were fight it out to the bitter end because many drawn during the British colonial period. thousands of civilianswill lose their lives in such a protracted war. It is also un- likely that the people who have been Sinhalese peasants in the Mullaitivu and sus data on population.' Likewise, un- directly or indirectly affected by the vio- Batticaloa districts, via the Maduru Oya der a federal system of government, lence of the past and present will return and Vali- Oya projects, during the 1980s. Sinhalese citizens who are long time resi- to the devastated areas of Trincornalee, This hostile behaviour of the militants dents of the Tamil-speaking majority re- Vavuniya and Amparai and live peace- against the government is motivated by gion would continue to reside in the area. fully in areas of ethnically mixed their desue to preserve their Tamil tradi- Sinhalese who are not sponsored under neighborhoods. Indeed, given the recent tional homeland and the distinct identity government-funded colonization events in eastern Europe and the former of the Tamil-speaking people. They are schemes could settle in the Tamil-speak- Soviet Union, there is little hope that also concerned that if Sinhalese settle- ing majority region. Spontaneousmigra- communal harmony can be restored in ment of Tamil areas goes unchecked, the tion of Sinhaleseinto the Tamil-speaking ethnically mixed-conflict zones in Sri political power of the Tamils will ulti- majority region would be similar to the Lanka. matelybe undermined.Tothem, the only migration of hundreds of Tamil-speak- One possible solution to the ethnic solution to end Sinhalese colonization of ing people into the Sinhalese-speaking conflict in Sri Lanka is to readjust the Tamil-speaking areas has been and con- majority region on a voluntary basis. boundaries of the North-East Province, tinues to be the creation of a separate Thousands of Tamils have taken tempo- which were drawn during the British Tamil state. I have suggested in a previ- rary refuge in because it is no colonial period. Ethnic harmony can be ous study that the problem of coloniza- longer safe to reside in the war-tom restored in theNorth-East Province if the tion can be resolved by redefining the Tamil majority districts. Indeed, indi- western boundary of the Eastern Prov- limits of the North-East Province so that vidually funded Tamil migration into ince can be adjusted to exclude the As- Sinhalese majority areas, rather than Sinhalese areas has not resulted in the sistant Government Agent's (AGA) Tamil-majority areas in the North-East creation of a Tamil electorate in Sinhalese divisions that are Sinhalese-majority di- Province, would become the focus of areas. On the other hand, government- visions. The Tamil majority could be Sinhalese colonization? More than any sponsored colonization of Sinhalese given political control of the eastern two- other factor, land settlement policy of the peasants in the north and east has con- thirds of the Eastern Province, while the government has contributed to the esca- tributed to the creation of Sinhalese elec- rest of the province would be annexed to lation of the ethnic conflict since the early torates in the North-East Province. Sinhalese provinces. It is imperative, 1980s. Indeed, the ethnic conflict cannot Sinhalese continue to maintain an abso- given the mistrust that the members of be resolved unless the problem of coloni- lute majority in all the districts in the the major communities have of each zation is solved to the satisfactionof both Sinhalese majority region, except in the other, that Tamil-speaking people and Sinhalese and Tamils. Allowing for a central and south central parts of the

24 Refuge, Vol. 13, No. 3 (June1993) country, where Tamils of Indian origin were settled by the British in the nine- teenth century. Unless tangible solutions are found to resolve these problems, there cannot be any peace in the island. To contain Sinhalese colonization to the Assistant Government Agent's divi- sions in which the Sinhalese have an ab- solute majority, the boundaries of the North-East Province should be redrawn so that Sinhalesemajority AGA divisions will be detached from the North-East Province and annexed to the North Cen- tral and Uva Provinces. The AGA divi- sions that would be annexed to the North-Central and Uva Rovinces under this plan are Padawi Siripura, Gomarankadawala, Morawewa, West- ern one-third of Thampalagamam, Kantalai, Padiyatalawa, Mahaoya, Uhana, Damana, Lahugala and Vavuniya South (Sinhalese)? Sinhalese population in these divi- sions, is between 82.5 percent and 99.4 percent of the total, except for Morawewa and Thampalagamam, where the Sinhalesepopulation is 55 per- cent and 31.4 percent, respectively. Nev- ertheless, Morawewa and the western one-third of Thampalagamam, which had approximately 11,654 Sinhalese in 1981, can become part of the Sinhalese- speaking majority region. This would make it feasible for Seruwila, where the Sinhalese population is 57.7 percent of the total population, tobeanintegral part of the Tamil-speaking majority region. Under this arrangement, the 11,654 Sinhalese from the Morawewa and Thampalagamam AG A divisions would become part of the Sinhalese-speaking majority region, while the 11,665 Sinhalese of the Seruwila AGA division Figure 1: Districts of Sri Lanka (Source: see note 6) would remain in the redefined North- East Province. The Seruwila and Kuchchaveli AGA divisions would fur- Tamil-majority region would contain leaders and vice versa, it might be neces- nish the linkage between the northern 94.9 percent Tamil-speaking people ac- sary for the Sri Lankan government and and southern Tamil-speaking majority cording to the 1981 census (see Figure 1). the leaders of the LlTE to agree on a list areas of the North-East Province. Tamil The rights of the Muslim minority in the of foreign countries that canbe invited to leaders insist that this linkage must be redefined Tamil majority region could participate in the peace process. It might maintained if there is to be lasting peace be guaranteed by enacting legislation even be necessary for an international in Sri Lanh6 and by devolving legislative and execu- organization lie the United Nations to By redrawing the boundaries of the tive powers to the district councils, which settle theissue of theboundary of a newly North-East Province, the ethnic compo- should be established in areas where the reconstituted North-East Province and sition of the Tamil-speaking majority re- Muslims are in the majority. Given the to maintain ethnic harmony along the gion wouldbe altered. The reconstituted fact that Sinhalese leaders mistrust Tamil readjusted boundary.

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