3. Causes of conflict in Sri Lanka

• 1. Citizenship rights
• 2. 'Sinhala only' policy
• 3. University admission criteria
• 4. Resettlement

The Sri Lankan civil war was due to a result of a conflict which began from 1983 and ended in May 2009. This was conducted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as the Tamil Tigers.

1. 'Sinhala only' policy
Before independence in 1948, the English-Educated Tamils enjoyed the high paying jobs while working for the government. They have the power and influence. The Sinhalese did not enjoy these benefits as many of them were not English-Educated. In 1956, the official Language Act was introduced. Their aim was to improve the position of the majority Sinhalese by making Sinhala the only language of administration in the government, making Sinhala the country’s official language. Tamils in the government were given 3 years to learn Sinhala or be dismissed. As a result, the Tamils organized a peaceful demonstration which turned violent. Since 1987, Tamil was accepted as an official language but still not widely used. The Tamils fear that this will diminish the use of Tamil and thereby eroding their culture. In addition, they felt that the Tamil population will be ‘Sinhalised’ by the majority Sinhalese population.

However, it resulted in rioting between both Tamils and Sinhalese. Hundreds death was resulted in this riot. The government and the Tamil leader then sign a pact to make Tamil the language of a national minority and to allow its use as a language of administration only in the northern and eastern parts of the Sri Lanka where the majority are tamils. But, in return, not only the roiting did not stop, the tension increases between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, leading to more fighting and deaths.

Due to the rioting, the Sri Lankan Constitution thus gave in and has granted greater recognition to the Tamil Language by declaring it the national language, language administration in the northern and eastern provinces as well as an official language.

2. University admission criteria
Before 1970, University administration is based on merit and the examinations were in English. This is the policy benefited the English-educated Tamils and they scored well in the examinations the proportion in the population. Many Sinhalese were unhappy because the number of undergraduates was not proportionate to their numbers in the country. Therefore, in 1970, changes were made to meet the needs of the Sinhalese. Tamils students had to score higher marks than the Sinhalese to enter the same course. This decision leads unfairness towards the Tamils youths as the criteria was not based on their educational level but based on their race and that frustrated the Tamil youths leading them to joined the LTTE because they have no career prospect. As a result, the frustration of the Tamils leads to an increase tension amongst the people.

3. Resettlement
Under the resettlement policy, Sinhalese were transferred from densely populated south-western and central areas of Sri Lanka into the Tamil areas. Their aim was to provide land for the landless Sinhalese peasants to live on and to cultivate Padi. However, the Buddhists monks and the Sinhalese army(mostly Sinhalese) also came to occupy these lands. Sinhalese Army then drove out the Tamils and located the Sinhalese with homes that were once lived by the Tamils. This resulted in many Tamils being frustrated and made them strongly believe that they deserve a separate nation state for themselves.

4. Citizenship rights
When Sri Lanka gained independence, Sri Lakan passed Celyon Citizenship Act. This act is to grant citizenship to those who were either born in Sri Lanka or their forefathers are born here. And therefore, many Indian Tamils find themselves stateless. Though they have lived in Sri Lanka for many years, they were not granted the basic rights such as education, jobs, housings and voting. Therefore, they continued to work in tea plantations which significantly contributed to the Sri Lankan economy.

In 1964, the Indians decided to help those India Tamils who were stateless. Discussions were held with the Sri Lanka who agreed to allow a certain number of Tamils to return to India while the rest were granted the Sri Lanka citizenships. Due to the outbreak of ethnic violence, the agreement was not carried out fully. And about 100000 Indian Tamil remained stateless.

However, in the later years, Sri Lanka passed the Grant if Citizenship to Persons of India Origin Bill. It gave citizenship to any person of Indian origin who had permanently lived in Sri Lanka since 1964.

All in all, before the Bill was passed out, India Tamils were frustrated for not being able to have a citizenship in Sri Lanka though much of their hard work in tea plantations were contributed to the Sri Lankan economy. As a result this leads to the increase tension amongst the people.