Colombo, Sri Lanka - As the war that has ravaged
Sri Lanka for 25 years once again degenerates
into widespread violence, the government is
receiving new support from an unusual political
group.
They are orange-robed, barefoot Buddhist monks.
But instead of extolling peace and harmony, they
are employing the uncompromising language of
military strength.
"Day by day we are weakening the LTTE
militarily," says the Venerable Athuraliye
Rathana, a monk in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo,
as he spoke of the government’s campaign to
destroy the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,
known as the Tamil Tigers. “Talk can come later.”
Sri Lanka’s hard-line monks are at the frontline
of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, which views
Tamils as outsiders. In January, they joined the
government’s ruling coalition with their party,
the Jathika Hela Urumaya, or National Heritage
Party - pushing its narrow one-seat majority up
to nine.
Since 1983, the Tigers have been fighting for a
crescent-shaped homeland, or “Eelam,” in the
north and east of Sri Lanka for the Tamil
minority, which is Hindu and Christian. Tamils
have suffered decades of discrimination by the
Sinhalese Buddhist majority.
Many observers say that a resurgence of Sinhalese
Buddhist nationalism has played its part in
several recent human rights violations.
The monks are arguing vociferously against any
self-determination for the Tamils in the north,
including even the measure of autonomy that most
observers believe is necessary for peace.
Nine seats is not many in a 225-seat parliament,
but the monks wield greater power because they
share their nationalist ideology with many other
members of the government, says Paikiasothy
Saravanamuttu, who runs the Centre for Policy
Alternatives, a think tank in Colombo.
Despite enjoying a strong majority on the island
nation, the presence of 50 million Tamils across
the Palk Strait in southern India can rattle
Sinhalese Buddhists. Buddhist nationalists are
able to tap into deep fears that any territorial
concessions to the Tamils would lead to eventual
Indian subjugation.
"I feel so sorry for the Tamils who are
suffering," says a Sinhalese taxi driver in
Colombo. "But giving them power in the north
would not be good. They might try to extend their
power."
The monks have used their new clout to urge the
president, Mahinda Rajapakse, to honor the vow
with which he came to power in late 2005: to
destroy the Tigers.
The Tamil desire for a homeland is just an excuse
for violence, says Mr. Rathana. "Sri Lanka was
totally a Sinhalese kingdom and most people
accept that."
Western governments have long been appalled by
the tactics of the Tamil Tigers, who terrorize
both Sinhalese and Tamils with their bombings and
the forcible recruitment of child soldiers.
Now, several governments have expressed horror
over independent reports of government collusion
in abductions and murders of civilian Tamils,
particularly in the north and east.
Earlier this month, the government rounded up
more than 350 Tamils in Colombo and transported
them by bus to the north and east - a move human
rights groups described as a “pogrom.” Sri
Lanka’s Supreme Court intervened to halt the
evictions soon after they began.
This was a “minor example,” says Jehan Perera,
executive director of the National Peace Council
of Sri Lanka, a group working for reconciliation.
Throughout Sri Lanka, Tamils felt insecure and
vulnerable, says Mr. Perera, who is Sinhalese.
On the Jaffna Peninsula alone, the only part of
the Tamil-majority north controlled by government
forces, more than 300 civilians have been
murdered in the past 18 months; many of them, it
is suspected, by a paramilitary force with close
ties to the military intelligence agency.
Both Sinhalese and Tamils trace their presence in
Sri Lanka back centuries. Until relatively
recently, theirs was a harmonious coexistence.
But in the 19th century, many Buddhist Sinhalese
felt that the British, who then ruled Ceylon,
gave the Tamils preferential treatment. At
independence in 1948, a disproportionate number
of civil servants were Tamils.
In 1956, the Sinhalese made swift and brutal
amends. Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike, an
ardent Buddhist nationalist, launched a
successful campaign to make Sinhalese the
official language.
He was heavily backed by the island’s monks in a
move that excluded many Tamils from educational
opportunities and prestigious jobs. In 1970,
university admission rules were changed to favor
the Sinhalese.