Sri Lanka ethnic strife leaves both parties defeated
There is a saying on civil strifes that in the end all victories and defeats fade away, leaving the winners and the losers equally hurt. The Sri Lankan Tamils, who have a past of two thousand years, are now leaving the country to gain a decent living.
THE SRI Lankan ethnic rivalry, was created by non-performing, short-sighted leaders of the majority Sinhalese-Buddhist population, who considered the minority Tamils as enemies deserving to be “put in their place permanently”.
The rise of Indian nationalism was marked by large-scale Tamil participation, including the contribution of intelligentsia, like poets and writers. And there were no hints of Tamil nationalism within Indian nationalism. Though the contribution of Tamils in building India as a nation is remarkable, it is yet to gain much from its economic development. Despite a few industries, in particular export based ones, no major industry has sprung up in the state.
However, high political consciousness of the people made it possible to gain major political as well as administrative patronage for the last two decades. It also brought about new chemistry and arithmetic in the rainbow coalition era. The state is yet to fully benefit from the rise of such political forces.
The Sri Lankan Tamils, who have a past of two thousand years in the island nation, are now leaving the country to gain a decent living and providing hope to the generations ahead. They are a vital force in spreading the message of Tamil language and culture across the world in the post-1980’s.
The conditions that lead Sri Lankan Tamils to seek asylum across the world are well known. Will the future shape their ideal home land – Tamil Eelam and restore their rights, including basic human rights and grant them liberty, equality and fraternity?
On the other side, the Sri Lankans face a tough future for waging continuous war against the ethnic minorities resulting in huge debt on their (15 million population) shoulders to the tune of Rs 163,425 debt per individual. Sri Lanka’s total debt amounts to Rs 3.201 trillion (US $ 29.7 billion) now and comprises of Rs 1.816 trillion domestic debt and Rs 1.385 trillion foreign debt.
The war put an end to all the development efforts of the succeeding regimes and undermined the country’s future prospects. Currently, there remain only a million of Tamils in the Island and others have flown to various parts of the world.
A war or ethnic cleansing is never going to bring prosperity to any nation; if the war drags further for some more years more debts would accrue and there will be little room for economic retrieval.
What if the entire Tamil population leaves the nation and northern and eastern parts of the nation become Sinhalese areas? Will they keep that area with themselves or will they lease it out to some other power that is keen on the strategic area? In that case the debts will vanish.
Will India allow such a development under its belly? Certainly, it is a risky proposition.
.Even if all the Tamils in Sri lanka leave Sri lanka will always servive as a nation. No person or ethnic minority are indispensable. It is time for the Tamils to be the 'Obamas' of this world give up their false pride of Tamil identity and integrate with and take up the Sri lankan identity.
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