Is the Tamil community better off or not, after 30 years of war? With special reference to Sri Lanka

Abstract

The ethnic conflict which has haunted Sri Lanka for nearly three decades was the most crucial issue in the post independent period. The conflict badly affected the socio-economic and political aspects of almost every Sri Lankan. This paper attempts to analyze the achievement of Sri Lanka in defeating terrorism and seeing how far the community is better off with its social life. Attention has been paid towards the number of factors behind the emergence of completion of the conflict. Communal representation, language, and university admission policies were important amongst the Tamil community. The demand for a separate state emerged in 1972, after the adoption of the second republican constitution. The rejection of the demands presented by the Federal Party to the constitutional assembly was the main factor behind the above demands. The Sri Lankan government‟s attempts to find a peaceful solution to the problem from 1985 to 2006 are discussed. All these attempts were not successful. As soon as the peace negotiation failed, the Mahintha Rajapaksa regime adopted a military offensive against the LTTE. Due to the military operation in the north and east; the people were relocated from their place of origin. Even now, the displaced people have difficulties in order to achieve their rights and demands with the government. On the other hand, the people have a good life in the post war situation in Sri Lanka. This has been analyzed by empirical and practical ways in Sri Lanka. This paper was analyzed from various angles of Tamil nationalism concepts. The defeating of a powerful guerrilla movement like the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam by the Sri Lanka government can be considered as a possible global model.