Countering Ethnic Conflict: A Case Study of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka is among the states which has witnessed many crises which includes a prolong civil war and one of the worst economic crisis which not only had an impact on lives of minorities but an entire population of Sri Lanka, no matter which religion and ethnicity they belonged to. Tamils had to migrate to India to escape the economic crisis. Although civil war ended in 2009, minorities are still being targeted on the basis on laws passed by Sri Lankan government to counter ethnic conflict; individuals who have no connection or link to illegal activities are arrested and detained for months. These findings show that although acts such as PTA have been passed to counter ethnic conflict, minorities are still suffering. With minorities still becoming victims of anti-terrorism law, there is still an issue that the remnants of LTTE still exist and are making efforts for revival of the group. However, the situation is different today as majority of Tamils agree on solving the issue of ethnic conflict in political way. But the fact is that Sinhalese have been against this solution. Issues in Sri Lanka can only be solved if political parties make decisions rationally and also if minorities are not targeted on the basis of anti-terrorism laws. Internal stability is also important for Sri Lanka for economic stability, which will take long time to be solved after the contemporary economic crisis.