1. Three Decades Conflict
of
Sri Lanka
Thilakshi Udeshika
Sanoon Mohideen

2. HISTORY
• Tamil Federal Party(FP)1949
• Demanded for a federal state.
• Sinhala majority leadership policies deteriorated FP
objectives; 1956 Language policy.
• Tamil nationalism became a serious force only in the 1970s.
• Tamil community who didn’t supported FP, with the
government minority discriminatory policies elected FP in
the next election.
• 1972 Buddhism given a primary place.
• 1974 FP demanded for a separate statehood.

3. HISTORY….cont
• They did not ask for a sovereign statehood or self
determination. Demanded for a separate identity within a
given area.
• Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a Marxist and Sinhalese
nationalist political party in 1971. JVP consisted from
students and activists of Sinhala community.
• In 1976 the emergence of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam
(LTTE) in Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
• 1981 burning the Jaffna Pubic Library
• In 1983, 13 soldiers were killed by LTTE
• Anit tamil riots in July in 1983
• GoSL defeated LTTE in May 2009

4. Main root causes
- Ethnic politics and the interpretations of the past
- Politics of language (1956 Sinhala language only)
- Politics of education (1971 new standardization)
- Other factors; employment & land

5. Key Actors of the conflict
• Key Actors – GoSL , LTTE
• Nation-state actors
- Key Regional Actors
- Key International Actors
- Other Actors
- India, Pakistan, China
– USA, Norway
- Canada, Japan, Israel
• Non State Actors - Diaspora , Civil society , NGO &
INGO , Media

6. Key Actors of the conflict
Civil Society
Diaspora
International
Dimension of
the Sri Lankan
Conflict
State
Actors
Regional
India
Pakistan
China
Other
The US
Norway
Israel, Canada, Japan
Non
State
Actors
UN
Media

7. CFA in Sri Lankan Conflict
• 1987 – 89 India and Sri Lanka signed an accord to bring an
end to the conflict. IPKF was in the island to end the
hostilities but LTTE and peacekeepers started a conflict.
• 2002 Norway interventions with a CFA. 2003 CFA and the
peace talks were broke down.

8. Grass Root Stories
• Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese were displaced,
lost their lives, lost property.
• Social, economical, cultural and traditional
backwardness.
• Many female headed household in both Tamil
and Sinhalese communities.
• Lost of future and hope in the communities.

9. Role of youth in
Conflict & peace building
• Child soldiers and youth direct involvement in conflict.
• As a community leaders in peace building.
• Understand the world around them and their role within
it.
• Share, connect and join with others for a successful peace
building.

10. Peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of
justice, of law, of order – in short, of government.”
– Albert Einstein