I did not know very much about Sri Lanka, so I had to do some research to distinguish who the terrorists and good guys were. It appears that may not be so easy.Allow me to share with you what I did find. Sri Lanka has a population of 20,222,240 people on an island slightly larger than W. Virginia. Their birth rate is higher than their death rate: 15.51:6.52/1000. Their ethnic make up is 73.8% Sinhadese, 7.2% Sri Lankan Moors, 4.6% Indian Tamil, 3.9% Sri Lankan Tamil, 3.9%, .5% other and 10% unspecified. (2001 provisional cencus)
There is also the same ratio according to religion: Buddhists, 69.1%; Muslim, 7.6%; Hindu, 7.17%; and Christian, 6.2%.
The group that appears to be starting and continuing this civil war is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They seem unwilling to even speak with the government, yet on Tuesday both sides recommitted to the 2002 truce.
The terrorist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is ignoring this. There has been a civil war in one sense or another for 23 long years for which approxiamately 2,826 people died per year. It is believed they are trying to force Sri Lanka to hand over 12-14% of the island to them, so these people can control their own way of life. But just what is that?
In the story I was reading in the Der Spiegel, it was odd to hear the government blamed the same way as the terrorists for the unrest. That is like saying, "There is a riot! Quick, call the police!" The police show up, have to disperse tear gas to quell the rioters, and then blame the police for the entire problem! Unbelievable.
I find it hard to believe the police are at fault here, but that is with limited knowledge. That is why, children, we must stay in school and insist upon our teachers teaching us the facts about the world around us! (Just thought I'd through that in here. lol)
Either way, I pray for this to be resolved very soon in a way that is good for everyone. Maybe. The LTTE was put on the EU's terrorist list on May 29, 2006. Maybe it not such a good idea to wish them peace? This looks like another religious war. God, why don't they understand they are NOT doing this in Your name?
Technorati: Sri Lanka, Der Spiegel, terrorism and religion.
Category: Sri Lanka and Terrorism.
3 comments:
hi,
just want to mention that the tamils perceive themselves as an oppressed minority (and indeed there have been many state-sponsered anti-tamil riots in the history of sri lanka). Therefore, they cliam to have the right do defend themselves against the government through use of arms... in fact, it was the same line of argument that was applied by the nato when they bombed serbia...
regards...
Thank you for this information. Do you think you could offer some links so I could learn more? Like I said, I had to go through the CIA's version of Sri Lanka to gather the data that I did get.
If this is true, it could be another Southern Sudan! OMG! Thank you.
This is obviously a politically sensitive issue. Hence, it is rather difficult to find 'neutral' sources. However, there is a short wikipedia article that also links to another article that lists all 'anti-tamil riots' in the history of modern sri lanka:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_July
Furthermore, there are numerous tamil and sri lankan government sources on the internet, just chek google... to name two:
http://www.tamilnation.org/indictment/genocide83/
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/shrilanka/document/papers/BlackJuly2004.htm
Regards,
T.
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