The defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009 ended Sri Lanka’s long-running civil war, but some issues persist including the demand of the ethnic Tamils in the north, for elections to provincial councils and restoration of land currently occupied by the army.
This is something successive Sri Lankan governments have shied away from delivering, claiming that a small island such as theirs is fine with the current unitary nature of government. There is perhaps a larger fear that autonomous provinces could see a return to the kind of separatist sentiments that the Tamil Tigers espoused for decades.
But Gopal Baglay, India’s former high commissioner to Sri Lanka, told StratNews Global on The Gist that for a population of about 2.5 crore or 2.7 crore. It has enormous diversity of culture, religion, languages, ethnicity and geography.
“So, there is, I think, and certainly provincial councils have existed and they have performed certain very useful functions locally. The other aspect is the issue of reconciliation and accountability for war crimes, for whatever happened during those long years when the campaign against the entity (Tamil Tigers) was run.
“And the issue of land which has which was taken by the Sri Lankan military, and also other departments like archeology and forest departments and Lankan villagers, the Tamil villagers in northern Lanka and other parts.”
The current ruing party the JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Perumana) led by Anura Dissanayake, has a history of its own. It led no less than two Marxist-driven insurgencies on the island (1971, 1987) in which thousands were killed.
It is also seen as a Sinhala chauviinist party although Dissanayake has tried to portray himself as a unifier who seeks to run the country with the backing of all citizens.
For now he’s treading a careful path, keeping the Sinhala voters on his side while also doing some outreach to the Tamil parties. Does he intend to tackle this issue squarely at some point, only time will tell.
Tune in for more in this conversation with Gopal Baglay, India’s former high commissioner to Sri Lanka.
