I finally had the opportunity to catch-up on a lot of reading over the weekend, and the story at the top of the list is that of the events unfolding in Sri Lanka.
For those who have been out of the loop, here is a little bit of history. Sri Lanka is a state with a majority Sinhalese population. The Sinhalese are Indo-Aryan descendants of people that came from northern India and settled on the island. The minority population in Sri Lanka are Tamilians, who have migrated from the Southern Tamil state of India to Sri Lanka; predominantly as workers on the Tea plantations.
Ever since independence, there has been a huge nationalistic movement in Sri Lanka; and the Tamils have always pulled the short straw when it has come to equal rights, equal opportunities, and fairness from the law makers. The history between the Sinhalese and the Tamilians has always been bloody, and ethnic tensions have always resulted in wave after wave of violent incidents which have resulted in thousands of people being killed (estimated at 70,000) on both sides over the last 25 years or so. The Tigers had been fighting for a separate state for Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka since the 1970s.
The situation has been unbelievably horrific over the last 2 weeks. The government offensive has intensified and the weeding out of the Tamil Tigers (military wing of the Tamilians) has taken a new turn. In the past few days, the LTTE had been hemmed into a 300 sq meter (3,230 sq ft) patch of land – a tiny part of the 15,000 sq km territory they had controlled until recently; and as of yesterday this was reduced to an area approximated to 100 x 100 meters. It has been estimated that the ratio of the state army against the Tamil Tigers during the conflict over the last few weeks has been 50,000 to 1.
With the death of the Tamil Military leader (Velupillai Prabhakaran) almost certainly confirmed, the celebrations began in the Sinhalese community as the news of the State victory over the guerillas started filtering in. In no way do I support the tactics of the Tamil Tigers in setting up their own region in the northern part of Sri Lanka, however, one’s thoughts must go out to the Tamilians and their future sufferings.
The general Tamil population in Sri Lanka have always received a raw deal. Their rights are almost non-existent, and with the way that events have been shaping up, one can only sympathize with their plight, regardless of the direction which their “leaders” chose to take.
The mess which WILL hit Sri Lanka in the future, has echos of a certain Middle Eastern conflict which has been giving grief on both sides since 1948.
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ummm.. i kind of disagree with you. i mean, yes, the Tamils deserve a better life and equal opportunity, but violence isn’t the answer to it. shouldn’t be. if you are killing innocents to fulfill your own goals – no matter how holy they are, they have been stained forever with blood.
just hope they do something better for the Tamils and the refugees – but that would require lot of international pressure.
ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! and you just chipped in the missin chip in my head.
i am so not a news person and the news paper creeps me out!
but thank you for takin me into the loop!
will surely track it once i have nothin to do!
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