Sri Lanka’s ethnic divisions in danger of reopening
Sunday’s bombings in Sri Lanka, which claimed 321 lives, according to police, have shattered the calm that had prevailed in the island nation since the end of a protracted civil war in 2009.
The 2009 annihilation of the Liberation Tigers Of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — an ethnic Tamil militant group that had waged a violent struggle for a separate land for Tamils since the 1970s — catapulted the country to become a top tourist destination, with more than 2 million visiting the island last year. Tourism emerged as the second-biggest contributor to the economy.
A country of more than 21 million people, Sri Lanka is ethnically very diverse, with Buddhists comprising around 70 percent of the population. Another 12 percent are Hindus, who are mostly Tamils, about 10 percent are Muslims, and Catholic Christians comprise about 6 percent.
It gained independence from Great Britain in 1948 and got a new constitution in 1972, but much of its history has been mired in civil conflicts. The longest was with the LTTE, but that ended 10 years ago. The end of the civil war did not, however, address some of the old grievances of the Tamil population.
Many Tamil families are still looking for their relatives who were lost in the final stage of the war in 2009. According to one estimate, that period claimed more than 40,000 lives. The rise of the Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists in the post-war phase brought a new conflict to the fore — between this majority and the minority Muslims.
Last year, Buddhist nationalists attacked several Muslim-dominated areas and the government had to declare a state of emergency.
Infighting within the government has also injected uncertainty into the country in the last couple of years.
These attacks come at a time when the media reports openly about confusion and a lack of coordination between the top two heads of the government.
Sanjay Kumar
Last year, President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed his own prime minister and that led to a protracted constitutional crisis. The Supreme Court’s intervention restored the balance in the government. However, the lack of coordination between the president and prime minister is still visible when it comes to governance.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his address to the nation on Sunday night, lamented the fact that the president did not share an intelligence report about a potential terror attack with him.
These attacks come at a time when the media reports openly about confusion and a lack of coordination between the top two heads of the government.
“The terror attack has come as a total surprise. This is something which we never expected,” said Dr. Jehan Perera, of the Colombo-based National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, an advocacy organization that focuses on peace-building and transitional justice.
“At the moment it is very scary as we don’t know when it is going to end. We don’t know where the next bomb might go off,” Perera added.
“Most of those who have been arrested are Muslims. I fear a new dimension being added after the attacks. There might be an escalation of attacks against Muslims,” he told Arab News.
“In domestic politics, the biggest beneficiary would be the majoritarian hard-liners represented by the previous president, Mahinda Rajapaksa. With presidential elections slated to take place later this year, it might see the dominance of majoritarian politics in the country in times to come.
“Compared to the past, there’s never been this kind of large-scale terror attacks taking place when the LTTE was active. It’s a new kind of war and I am unable to fathom where it will take us,” Perera said.
It is this uncertainty that stares at everyone in the Indian Ocean republic today. Sunday’s terror plot — one of the biggest in South Asia — has accentuated a new fault line in the volatile country, raising a pertinent question about the future political direction of the multi-ethnic nation. So far, political responses to the crisis have been measured and disciplined but, considering its past political history and incipient majoritarianism, a concerted effort is needed to bridge the ethnic and religious divide.
– Sanjay Kumar is a New Delhi based journalist with experience of covering South Asia for more than fifteen years. He covered Sri Lankan conflicts extensively. He is the correspondent Arab News in Delhi.
Twitter: @destinydefier
