Nationalism in Sri LankaSri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon under British rule until 1949, is a small country with a devastating ethnic conflict. The peopling of Sri Lanka has been a continuous process of migrants from India with indigenous and other ear
...SLFP, was elected to power in 1956 on the Sinhala-Only campaign and soon Sinhalese became the sole official language of the country. Religion also played a dominant ideological role in ethnic consolidation. Buddhism, introduced from India in the third century BC, became the religion of the Sinhala as well as the state religion. Hinduism remained the religion of the Tamils. Apart from the conversion of a section of both Sinhalese and Tamils to Christianity during the colonial period, the congruence between Sinhala and Buddhist on the one hand, and Tamil and Hindu on the other, was total. Disrimination against the Tamil population continued throughout the 1960s as Buddhism was realized as the major religion to be used under Mrs. Bandaranaike, wife of Mr. Bandaranaike, who was assassinated by Tamil Rebels. The new Republican Constitution of 1972 read as follows: "The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall he the duty of the state to protect and foster Buddhism while assuring to all religions the rights guaranteed by section 18." During this time, the number of Tamils employed by the state and admitted into institutions of higher learning was greatly restricted. The Tamils responded to this oppression through political demands and non-violent protest movements. However, the 1970s gave rise to an increasing trend in Tamil separatism and militancy. The demand for a separate state was put forth by the Tamil United Liberation Front in 1976 and by 1978, several militant youth groups had fractionated off to form the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, known as the Tamil Tigers. Major outbreaks of violence occurred in 1977 and 1981. The violence escalated into riots throughout the country in 1983, which is considered as the beginning of the modern civil war in Sri Lanka. Fighting between the LTTE, and the Sri Lankan Army has continued for the past 18 years, with countless human rights abuses committed by both sides. Efforts to have peace have been hopeless throughout the war. India played a major role in brokering the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord in July 1987. The Indian Peace Keeping Force attempted to take control of security in the north-east region for the next three years. But the result of this agreement was violent conflict between the IPKF and the LTTE, and the IPKF was withd...