Nicolas

Sawicky Terrorism in Sri Lanka Professor Henning Sri Lanka is not a very well known country in the eyes of most citizens of the

Western world. To the uneducated, Sri Lanka seems like a peaceful island off the coast of India. When you look closer, you will be surprised to learn that this country of 20 million inhabits has been the battleground for one of the longest and bloodiest civil wars that the world has ever seen. This conflict, which recently ended in 2009, was the result of the Tamil minority wanting independence from the Sinhalese majority that ruled Sri Lanka. The Tamil have a different language and religion than the Sinhalese and believe that they have a right to govern their own country in northern Sri Lanka, where most of their people reside. Both sides are responsible for questionable behavior, but as you will see; the Tamil Tigers truly live up to their classification as a terrorist organization. The government of Sri Lanka is definitely no saint in this civil war. After gaining independence from England in 1948, the Sinhalese majority began to alienate the Tamil minority (Timeline). This began with depriving Tamil plantation workers citizenship and the right to vote (Timeline). This move began to anger the Tamil minority, which was located mostly in the northern region of Sri Lanka. Tensions worsened a few years later when the Sri Lankan government began to roll out numerous Nationalization programs. The worst of the programs was the law that made Sanhala the sole official language of Sri Lanka (Timeline). When Tamil parliamentarians 1

protested the new laws, widespread violence broke out and more than 100 Tamils were killed (Timeline). The government did nothing to stop the widespread violence and the violence continued. In 1958, more anti-Tamil riots occurred, which left more than 200 people dead and thousands of Tamils displaced (Timeline). Again, the government did not do its duty to protect the people of its country, deciding to side with the majority of the country. The situation in Sri Lanka got even worse in 1972, when Buddhism was made the primary religion (Timeline). The Tamil people are mostly Hindu. This was the last straw for the 20% of the Sri Lankan population that were essentially being ignored. In 1973, Velupillai Prabhakaran created the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. What followed was a bloody campaign of guerrilla warfare that would not end until 2009, leaving 287,000 Tamils in government-controlled refugee camps (Shadow). The tactics of the Sri Lankan government does not even come close to the methods that the Tamil Tigers would use in the years after its formation. It was these tactics that resulted in 32 countries placing the Tigers in their terrorist organization list. Their tactics include: using women and children for violence, suicide bombings, ethnic cleansing, assassinations, air raids, and dealing drugs. In most cases, the ends do not justify the means. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are credited with some of the greatest innovations in the realm of terrorism. One of these innovations is the use of women in their fight for political change. The Tamil Tigers pioneered the use of women in suicide attacks in their fight against the Sri Lankan government (FBI). This use of women for such a

destructive force was not limited to rare attacks. The Tigers used women for more than one-third of their suicide bombings (Stern, 52). The Tamil Tigers were also very successful in recruiting child soldiers to help further their cause. Their recruitment technique consisted of abduction and forced recruitment of children (Unicef). Many of the children abducted were orphans from the tsunami that ravaged the area (Monitor). The total amount of child soldiers that the Tamil tigers employed was 5,794, some as young as 11 years old (Monitor). This caused falling attendance in schools near the recruitment areas, when kids left school to fight the unwinnable war against the Sri Lankan government (Unicef). This tactic left a large portion of the Tamil population with a very low education, something that is going to now make on- going peace much harder. The Tamil Tigers also did some innovating when it came to bombs. They perfected the use of suicide bombing, inventing a device know as the suicide belt (FBI). This Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was just the first of many devices that the world would soon see. Suicide bombing soon became the Tigers favorite past time. They have executed over 200 suicide bombings, resulting in 60,000 dead in the last two decades (Stern, 292). Even though their attacks have stopped, they have inspired other organizations to use suicide belts, resulting in thousands more dead civilians across the world. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were also responsible for ethnic cleansing in the areas that were under their control. The Tigers used violence to forcibly remove Sinalese and Muslim inhabitants from the areas in northern Sri Lanka (Fearsome). This

type of discrimination did not help their cause to gain self-government in the region under their control. The Tamil Tigers were also no strangers to assassinations of world leaders. They actually hold the world record for most heads of state killed by a terrorist organization, with two. They assassinated the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991 and the Sri Lankan president, Premadasa, in 1993 (Stern, 292). This kind of action is also not the best way to be taken seriously if your wish is to form your own nation in the northern region of Sri Lanka. The Tigers are also the only terrorist organization to have its own air force. It has used this air force to bomb Sri Lankas holiest Buddhist site along with destroying half of the Sri Lankan airline fleet in an attack on the international airport (Timeline). Some of the air attacks are suicide missions like the suicide raids on Colombo in 2009 (Timeline). These attacks against holy and civilian targets were a big mistake by the Tigers. As a result of the attacks, the Tamil people will not get any sympathy from the Buddhists within the country, now that the Tigers have been defeated. The Tigers were even heavily involved in the drug trade and other illegal activities. They covered nearly every aspect of the heroin trade in East Asia. They would handle bulk delivery along with small consignments of heroin. They would sometimes work as couriers and even dealt the drug on the streets (Secessionist). Along with the drug trade, the Tamil Tigers would dip their hands in other illegal practices. Two of these were human smuggling and selling their expertise to the highest bidder (Stern, 292). All these business ventures allowed them to fund their bombing in Sri Lanka. The other effect was that their terrible

methods were passed along to other terrorist organizations that to this day still commit the same atrocities that the Tigers had once done in Sri Lanka. Thankfully, there is still hope in Sri Lanka. In May of 2009, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were defeated and their militant leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed. The government of Sri Lanka is now trying to put the country back together. Ever since 2002, the Sri Lankan government has been trying for peace. In that year, the government and the Tigers had signed a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire (Timeline). The government then created a position called Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (Secretariat). The government is now trying to put Sri Lanka back to a peacetime country. One of its first acts was the release of some of the refugees that are in government camps. So far, 10,000 have been released (Timeline). The government is also working to clear the tens-of- thousands of mines that the Tamil Tigers placed across the country (Shadow). There is also a push to restore basic infrastructure to the formally Tiger held cities in northern Sri Lanka (Shadow). The government of Sri Lanka is also working to bring the Tamil minority onto the political stage. They are holding elections in the largely Tamil north, which will hopefully contribute to long-term stability (Shadow). The government of Sri Lanka is working towards reconciliation with the Tamil people through its constitution as well. The countrys All Party Representative Committee, established in 2006, has developed proposals for constitutional change that would foster not only reconciliation with the Tamils, but also with the other minorities in Sri Lanka (Shadow). There is even an upcoming vote, with one

of the key issues being how to best integrate the minority Tamil community into the Sri Lankan government (Post war). Looking back on the conflict regarding the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government, it is very easy to judge whether the ends justified the means. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam killed tens-of-thousands of people so that they could become independent of Sri Lanka. Even though they did have some foundation to their hatred of the Sri Lankan government, blowing up civilians with Suicide belts is not the way you get your own country. What is worse is that the Tigers brought their own women and children into this fight. Even with all the bloodshed they caused, they were defeated. Their once fearless leader is now dead. Now starts the long road to recovery. The Sri Lankan government is doing its part to bring the country back together under one rule, it is now up to the Tamil people if they will accept peace, understanding that if they have a problem with how the government is running, they must go through peaceful means.

Appendix The second time around our group worked very well together. We had lengthy discussions in class regarding our topic when given time to do so, even staying after class sometimes to talk for 5 minutes on what we were doing. We arranged times to meet outside of class and did so on two separate occasions. We were also in constant communication via email, sending drafts of our sections. We also implemented a shared google document, something we did not do last time, to help centralize all the resources that we found. We added links, important quotes, and even possible counter points from the opposing team. The work was divided up fairly evenly between the six of us. Two doing the opening argument, three doing the rebuttals, and one doing the closing argument. We then all handled the cross examinations, using printed out resources and our google document to help answer the questions that were presented to us. Although I was extremely happy with the outcome of the second tribunal, I think some of my group members needed to shorten their speeches, especially in the rebuttals. They would go on and on about something that could have easily been said in three sentences. It is the long points that lose the audience and cause you to make the other team seem stronger.

Works Cited "BBC News - Q&A: Post-war Sri Lanka." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2405347.stm>. "BBC NEWS | South Asia | Tamil Tigers: A Fearsome Force." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/526407.stm>. "BBC News - Sri Lanka Timeline." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1166237.stm>. "Outrage over Child Soldiers in Sri Lanka / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com." The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1129/p07s02-wosc.html>. "SECESSIONIST WAR AND TERRORISM IN SRI LANKA:TRANSNATIONAL IMPULSES." South Asia Terrorism Portal. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/publication/books/global/peiris.htm>. "Secretariat." Home. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.peaceinsrilanka.org/about-us>. Shastri, Amita. "The Tiger's Shadow." Foreign Affairs. 4 Aug. 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.foreignaffairs.com>. Stern, Jessica. Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill. New York: Ecco, 2003. Print. "UNICEF Condemns Abduction and Recruitment of Sri Lankan Children by the Karuna Group." UNICEF. 22 June 2006. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <unicef.org>.