Ethnic divide marks attitude to Sri Lanka war

By IANS
Monday December 17, 02:03 PM
Colombo, Dec 17 (IANS) Sri Lankans are divided on ethnic lines on President Mahinda Rajapaksa's war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) shows.

Interviews with 1,600 Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Indian origin Tamils conducted in eight of the nine provinces in November revealed that 87.3 percent of Sinhalese - the majority community - were 'satisfied' with the way the government was waging the war.


But the minority communities were clearly unhappy. The lack of support was striking in the case of Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian origin Tamils. The Muslims were somewhat evenly divided.


According to the 2001 census (which could be conducted only in 18 of the 25 districts because of the conflict in the northeast), the Sinhalese constitute 82 percent of Sri Lanka's then population of 17 million people.


It was to this constituency that Rajapaksa had appealed in the November 2005 presidential election on the basis of an agenda proposing a tough line against the LTTE's separatism and promising not to yield to even the moderate Tamil demand for a federal constitution.


In contrast to the enthusiastic Sinhalese, only 21.3 percent of Sri Lankan Tamils - the island's original Tamils - were happy with the conduct of the war. The Sri Lankan Tamils constitute 4.3 percent of the population outside the northeast, where they constitute the overall majority.


As for Indian Tamils who are concentrated in central tea-growing highlands and who form 5 percent of the population, 77 percent said they were unhappy with the way the war was being fought.


Muslims (8 percent of the population) were more evenly divided, with 49.9 percent saying they approved the president's way of fighting the LTTE while 35.1 percent were unhappy.


As regards the peace process, now virtually dead, 52 percent of the Sinhalese felt that Rajapaksa had handled it the way it should be. But 70 percent of Sri Lankan Tamils felt he had bungled and plunged the country into war.


Indian origin Tamils seemed to be particularly hard hit by the absence of peace. Over 80 percent said they disapproved the way the government conducted the peace process.


The survey shows that Rajapaksa's power base is quite clearly among the majority Sinhalese, with the Muslims being evenly divided on him. He appears to have alienated the Tamils.


This is because the war is being fought mostly in the Tamil-speaking northeast of the country. According to the latest report of the London-based Minority Rights Group, 290,000 civilians, mostly Tamils and some Muslims, were displaced and over 3,500 of them were killed in military operations in the east in 2006 and 2007.


The Indian origin Tamils have become victims of the war not because they voice secessionist sentiments or seek a federal system but simply because they are Tamil.


In the eyes of the Sinhalese-dominated police force, the Indian origin Tamils are as suspect as the Sri Lankan Tamils. And in cordon and search operations in Colombo and other places, they are also arrested and questioned.


In early December, the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), which represents Tamils of Indian origin, had to move the Supreme Court to secure the release of hundreds who were detained in a massive cordon and search operation in Colombo and nearby areas.

[Source: http://in.news.yahoo.com/071217/43/6oisc.html ]