DEADLY SYMBOLS, VIBRANT ELECTORAL POLITICS AND WAR CRIMES IN SRI LANKA * A.R.M. Imtiyaz [Abstract: Symbols are emotional and they play significant role in all aspect of human communities, including electoral politics. Symbols are deadly in nature because they can provoke deadly violence and war crimes. In Sri Lanka, Sinhala politician and elites often resort to symbols in order to win political power. This study examines the interaction between Buddhist ethnic symbols and politics in Sri Lanka. This paper examines the process of politicization of Buddhist symbols, and the use of symbols in the general elections in 1956 that brought the Sinhala exclusivists to the power establishment of Sri Lanka and the sixth Presidential elections in 2010. This paper, also briefly discusses the war crimes allegedly by committed security forces against the Tamils.] [The article appeared in the IUP Journal of International Relations, Vol IV, No. 3, July 2010. The issue of the journal in which it appears online, http://www.iupindia.in/International_Relations.asp] * Dr. A.R.M. Imtiyaz, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Temple University, USA. He can be reached at
[email protected] 1 Some Remarks on the Sinhala-Buddhist Religio-Political Parties and Groups in Sri Lanka Although Buddhist monks have enjoyed a prominent position with the society for long time and that the state policies were being eschewed towards Buddhism from the early days of independent Sri Lanka, political parties solely based on religious identity is a relative new phenomenon. There are approximately 45 registered political parties, including the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP).1 To date, two major political parties can be exclusively categorized as political parties that employ Sinhala-Buddhist concerns and demands for electoral gains.