The document discusses the historical accuracy of events depicted in the novel "Anil's Ghost" compared to the actual Sri Lankan Civil War. It describes some of the key events of the civil war, including the discrimination that led Tamils to riot, and the two sides that engaged in fighting. It also discusses some of the worst war crimes committed on both sides during the last years of the 26-year conflict, such as unlawful killings and kidnappings by the Sri Lankan government and suicide bombings by Tamil Tigers that killed civilians and destroyed symbols. In the end, the Sri Lankan government defeated the Tamil Tigers, but tensions between the groups continue even years after the war.

1. Running Head: THE HISTORICAL ACCURACY OF ANIL’S GHOST 1
The Historical Accuracy of Anil’s Ghost
Justin Battrick
Mohawk College

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The Historical Accuracy of Anil’s Ghost
After reading the novel, Anil’s Ghost, I decided to use the following quote from the
authors note to prove that there are some similarities between this story and the real war. “Anil’s
Ghost is a fictional work set during this political time and historical moment. And while there
existed organizations similar to those in this story, and similar events took place, the characters
and incidents in the novel are invented.” (Ondaatje ,M. 2000). The similarities between the story
and the actual history of the Civil War is what I am basing my paper on. In “Anil’s Ghost”
Ondaatje has Sarath and his brother, Gamini, telling Anil about the on going Sri Lankan Civil
War. They hope that this might help them to piece together what happened to the murder victim
they found. In this paper I am going to make connections between the story and the actual history
of the Civil War to help the reader increase his/her understanding of this War.
I'm going to start my paper in this paragraph talking about the basics of the Civil War.
Why it started and what sides there were. The main cause of the Civil War was when the
Sinhalese people, who were native to that country, started to pass laws that discriminated against
Tamil people, who immigrated over to Sri Lanka from Britain. These laws in turn caused the
Tamil people to start rioting. These riots were repeated for several years before the war actually
began. The two sides of the war were the Tamil Tiger’s (the Tamil rebel group) fighting against
the Sinhalese people and their government.
The last few years of this 26-year Civil War were the worst years of the war as a whole.
These are the years that saw the most war crimes being committed on both sides of the conflict. I
am going to start with talking about the war crimes committed by the Sinhalese government

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because these were by far the worst. These consisted of unlawful killings of innocent civilians,
lots of unexplained kidnappings, bombings of civilians and public and private places. The
unlawful killings committed by the Sri Lankan government is the first thing I am going to talk
about. The following is a quote I found while researching that says "unlawful killings carried out
in a widespread manner against civilians” (ABC.net 2015). The reason the government gave for
all the murders they committed was because they thought that these people were working to help
the rebels and needed to be killed. The problem is there was never any actual evidence
supporting this claim, and that it was just a gut feeling by the government. The way that the
victims were treated after their murder was not much better. There were 2 scenarios that would
play out, one is that they would be killed and disposed of by being flown out to sea to be dropped
in the ocean. The other is that, they would be buried at one publicly known location only to be
secretly moved to a new grave later. These would more than likely be mass graves.
Secondly the government had committed unlawful kidnapping of citizens during
this war. Even under the circumstances of war there was no reason for the government to either
kill or kidnap anybody. There was a report done that say “the report found “reasonable grounds”
to believe Rajapaksa-led security forces carried out unlawful abductions” (Bengali ,S. 2015). The
reason listed above the reason for the killings is also the reason they are giving for committing
the abductions. Although the Sri Lankan government did commit numerous unlawful crimes
during this time period they were not the only ones. The opposing side of the war, the Tamil
people, also committed quite a few of these war crimes. One of which I am going to talk about
next.

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During the Civil War “A million people have been displaced and tens of thousands of
people have died in the conflict, in which the rebels have employed suicide bombings” (The
Telegraph 2009). These suicide bombers would strap bombs on themselves and go out to places
where there were huge groups of people and blow the bombs up, thus killing themselves and
everyone and anyone around them. These tactics were not only used kill people; they would also
use them strategically to terrorize civilians. Another way they would use bombs is to blow up
symbols of hope and peace such as statues and political buildings. Also the suicide bombers
would get into a position of high power to blow up important people like the Sri Lankan
president.
These paragraphs all connect to the story Anil’s Ghost because that story makes valid
connections to the events of the actual Civil War that took place in Sri Lanka. From my paper
you can see how terrible of a war this was. But during the 26-years of fighting any where
between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed. In the end Sri Lanka won the war and the Tamil
people and Tamil Tiger’s were defeated. This does not mean that everything is better between
the two groups.” Three years after the Tamil Tiger’s defeat, the underlying issues that caused Sri
Lanka’s civil war are once again coming to a head.” (Ramachandran, S. 2012). Even now three
years after the war’s end the Sri Lankan government always has the police on high alert at every
public celebration anticipating another attack from the Tamil Tiger’s. “However, while the civil
war is over another phase of terror and violence has taken its place. (Ramachandran, S. 2012).
According to TheDiplomat another Civil War is inevitable.

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References
Szczepanski, K. (1948). The Sri Lankan Civil War. Retrieved from
http://asianhistory.about.com/od/Sri_Lanka/fl/The-Sri-Lankan-Civil-War.htm
Gray, D. (2015). War crimes 'most likely' committed in Sri Lankan civil war, United Nations
report says. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-16/sri-lanka-un-war-
crimes-report/6781380
Bengali, S. (2015). Kidnappings, sex abuse, torture: U.N. details likely war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-un-special-court-sri-lanka-civil-
war-20150916-story.html
The Telegraph. (2009). Sri Lanka's civil war: The history of the Tamil conflict. Retrieved from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5339374/Sri-Lankas-civil-war-The-history-of-the-
Tamil-conflict.html
BBC News. (2015). Sri Lanka country profile. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
south-asia-11999611
Ondaatje ,M. (2000). Anil’s Ghost Toronto, ON: Random House of Canada Limited.
Ramachandran, S. (2012). Sri Lanka: War is Over but Tensions Run High. Retrieved from
http://thediplomat.com/2012/12/sri-lanka-war-is-over-but-tensions-run-high/