Tamils In Sri Lanka -- by Mathavakrishna(Marty) Gnanananthan

Marty Gnanananthan mathava@gmail.com

 Sri Lanka quick facts  History of Sri Lanka  Present day situation  Humanitarian situation

 South of India  20 million people ◦ 70% Sinhala (Buddhist) ◦ 18% Tamil (Hindu, Christian)  Indian Tamils ◦ 8% Moors (Muslims)  3rd world country  Plantation  Industrialised

 Portuguese and Dutch 16 century  British Colonisation 1815  1948 Independence  1956 Sinhala Only Act  Race riots and Tamil nationalism  Civil War

 Portuguese and Dutch used Sri Lanka as a trading port  Missionaries established particularly in the North and East  3 separate kingdoms (Sinhala, Kandyan and Tamil)  Unified under British Rule ◦ Tamil held top positions in British administration

 Leading up to independence SinhalaBhuddist nationalist movement on the rise  1948 became independent  British handed over a single country to the majority Sinhalese  Citizenship Act – Indian Tamil plantation workers denied citizenship  1956 Sinhala only act ◦ Sinhala official language ◦ Discrimination over university examination ◦ Discrimination over administrative positions  1956 Race riot after Tamils protest legislation (150 dead)  1958 Pogrom against Tamils (300 dead) ◦ Suggestion to change administrative language in the north and east to Tamil

 Successive discriminative laws in 1950’s and 1960’s marginalised Tamils  Frequent protests by Tamils demanding equal rights and equal opportunity  1977 Vaddukoddai resolution (300 dead) ◦ General election on secession, north and east held by Tamil politicians ◦ Riots ensued  1981 burning of Jaffna library by Sinhala mobs aided by police  1983 Black July pogrom - 3000

 1983 war between Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan Army  Continued for 30 years till 2009  Tamils Tigers fought for a separate state ◦ Tamil Eelam  Mini state has school, courts, banks, vocational facilities  Freedom fighter vs. Terrorist (propaganda war)

 20,000 civilians killed by Sri Lankan Army shelling  Hospitals targeted on 30 different occasions in final months of war  300,000 civilians in concentration camps ◦ No freedom of movement, no communication ◦ Lack of food, water, medicines and sanitary facilities ◦ Abductions of Tamil youth, torture ◦ Forced separation of family members ◦ Indefinite detention

 No press freedom ◦ Press banned from reporting on Sri Lankan war or in refugee camps ◦ 18 journalists killed in last 18 months  Restrictions on Aid organisations ◦ At its peak only Red cross allowed  White vans abduct opposition (mainly Tamils) ◦ 2000 incidents estimated

 Act Now ◦ http://www.act-now.info/Site/HOME.html  Sri Lankan Crisis Fast Unto Action ◦ http://fastuntoaction.wordpress.com/  Amnesty Internationl ◦ http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/sri-lanka

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Tamils In Sri Lanka -- by Mathavakrishna(Marty) Gnanananthan

by Ratbag Media on Jul 01, 2009

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Tamils In Sri Lanka -- by Mathavakrishna(Marty) Gnanananthan — Presentation Transcript