Impact and influence of v1s considered elsewhere.
Military exclusion/ neglect
Tamils hadn’t adequately participated in Army (even when it expanded) and Police.
Tamils were usually more educated and taller than sinhalese, so were well represented in mikitary and civil service. First sl army commamder was tamil. Lots of tamils were in brit military.
Military after 56 was purged and politicized. And those in top posts like brigadier were relegated to ceremonial posts.
By 70s army was 99 percent sinhalese.
Still, there were some remnants -
Lttes political head nadesan was a senior police officer in colkmbo who witneaaed his neighbors being hacked to death in 83 riots and joined the ltte.
Genocide
Sinhalese were jealous of colonial era yapana (jaffna) Tamil success and dominance. So, they brought in the Sinhala Only Act 1956. By 1972, with the “policy of standardization”, they restricted tamil entry to universities. There were riots and counter-riots; leading to tamil rebel groups; who were ultimately defeated at great cost.
Major events were -
- Burning of Jaffna library 1981
- Various anti-tamil progroms (rape, murder, looting, torture … ) involving army, police, monks and general mobs
- Direct massacres by the army in the “No fire zone” in 2009.
Anecdotally, every H seems to have a cousin or sibling who was killed or raped. This was one of the reasons tamils carried cyanide/exploded themselves to prevent capture.
Rebellion
Indian help
- India did train a bunch of groups after 1983 riots - but this was basic training and was sometimes focused on intel/recon on Trinco harbor. After IG death and Rajiv’s sidelining of Parthasarathy for Bhandari, relationship frailed.
- The weapons given were standard and not for offensive purposes but was still welcome in the aftermath of 83. However, tigers diversified supply lines and got better weapons/comms equipment elsewhere.
IPKF
India tried to stop genocide of tamiLs by Lankan army. In 1987, the forced Lankans to devolve power to provinces; recognize Tamil and hold a referendum; in return for Tamil disarmament by IPKF under a cease-fire and amnesty. But the latter bit did not happen. IPKF ended up fighting LTTE; and failed to replace the tamil groups with a Tamil National Army. Some soldiers committed a few revenge massacres, rapes and loots (but unlike the Lankan case, they were motivated by simple passions and not hate; and were more promptly investigated and punished). Sinhalese army started supporting LTTE against IPKF. Ultimately, they were pulled back after Rajiv Gandhi’s defeat. Then, LTTE blew up RG; turning India decisively against LTTE.
Defeat
LTTE didn’t get a good peace deal done when they had good bargaining position. They did not appreciate the superior state resources, support and tenacity of the sinhalas. They lost sympathy by resorting to terrorism (like the lankan army - albeit more prominently).
Ltte achieved military parity in 2001 which led to government talking about peace. SL dragged it out to rearm with world support. Sinhalese oppose any powersharing to tamils. A monk assasinated bandaranayake against the banda chelva pact decades before ltte. Sinhala solduer tried killing rajiv gandhi over indian pressure in 80s, sinhalese rioted in 95 and after 2002 against any devolution.
Population impact
| yr | H% |
|---|---|
| 1881 | 21.51% |
| 1931 | 21.99% |
| 1946 | 19.83% |
| 1963 | 18.51 |
| 1971 | 17.64 |
| 1981 | 14.48 |
| 1981 | 12.58 |
Current outlook
No one believes in periyarism but ntkism (Seeman etc..) after 2009 is a thing.