Answer 1
The conflict in Sri Lanka started about three decades ago when minority Tamils took weapons against the government of Sri Lanka. But the spark of this fire had started in armed conflict back in 1983, with the Black July riots that had claimed the lives of thousands. In the mid 80’s, the LTTE (Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam) took control of the Northern part of Island and crushed their rivals.
The main cause of this problem was ethnicity. The Tamils of Sri Lanka were culturally different from their other country parts. They were different in terms of language as well. They considered themselves closer to Indian Tamils and this became the main reason for deploying their forces under the banner of United Nations. This was to maintain peace in the Island, but these efforts were rebuffed by LTTE and Indians were forced to withdraw their forces from the Island.
Answer 2
Religion played an important role in this conflict. The Tamils belonged to the religion Hinduism, while the majority of Sri Lankans were Sinhalese (Buddhist). This made things more complicated. So, it was a total clash of both religions which in turn spread like a wild fire in the Sri Lankan society.
The seeds of this conflict were sown following the independence from the United Kingdom in 1948, when majority, Sinhalese (Buddhist), government came in power and started neglecting the minority of Tamils. This neglect and anger towards the government of Sri Lanka forced the Tamils to pick arms and fight for their rights. It further lead Tamils to make the fearsome Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which had committed terrorism and other war crimes throughout the remaining half of the century.
Answer 3
The international religious organizations played a heavy role to minimize the hatred and violence in the society. Islam and Christianity make a small portion of Sri Lankan population, around seven percent. International religious organizations provided humanitarian aid throughout the conflict, particularly, the Catholic Church which has a long history of relationships with Buddhist government of Sri Lanka.
The international Buddhist community played a very limited role in the Sri Lankan conflict. Due to the intensity of this conflict, many international political forces were involved in the search of a way to bring peace in the country. The most important effort was from the Norwegian mission which mediated peace process (2000-2002).
Answer 4
This was because of the constant picking of one community on the other. LTTE started using civilians to protects themselves and obstructed the paths to aid that were to be delivered for the war. This led to a decreased employment ratio. Even after everything going on within the island, the country was rated ninety-one on the UN’s Human Development Index.
A few other impressive factors were the life expectancy rate (74.4 years) and the literacy rate (90.8 percent) (Sri Lanka: Civil War along Ethnoreligious Lines, 2013). These improvements were only possible after the British rule over Sri Lanka had ended. In the reign of British government there would have been difficulties for people to gain better education because of the caste system that was followed in India, but due to the Buddhist rule, people were able to get not only quality education but other facilities of life as well.
Follow-up Question
In this whole scenario, the role of National Peace Council is commendable. It is one of the few organizations that have a chance at peace-making. It is an independent organization having no government affiliation. It has a diverse membership, having people from every community. This is the reason that it has a chance at spreading peace better than any other group. It can achieve its target by educating the youth about the problems posed by war and how peace can be beneficial for everyone.
References
Sri Lanka: Civil War along Ethnoreligious Lines. (2013) (1st ed.). Washington D.C. Retrieved from http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/classroom
