Armed Conflict

Armed Conflict

The policies introduced by the Sri Lanka government made the Tamils feel that they are not fairly treated and feel that they don't have basic rights. The Tamils originally made peaceful demonstrations that they should be treated fairly by the Sri Lanka government. However, after many years, their demands for fair treatment is not met, so the Tamils started a political party known as the Tamil United Liberation Front in 1976. They asked for a separate independent state in the northeastern outskirt of Sri Lanka, the areas the Tamils mainly lived, as they feel that they were not given basic rights and they think that the only way to have their basic rights is to have a separate state. However, the government did not approve to their idea. This caused the formation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, a group mainly consists of Tamil youths that organizes violence to demand for the fair treatment of the Tamils. They decided to use violence as they think that that is the only way to have fair treatment from the government. The Tamil Tigers attacks the Sinhalese, the Tamil police, the Tamils who supports the ruling party and the Tamils who don't support the proposal of the separate state. The Sinhalese also showed violence and hostility to the Tamils. The violence in July 1983 had 13 Sinhalese soldiers killed by the Tamil Tigers. The violence also spark off an armed conflict between the government and the Tamil Tigers. The armed conflict escalated to a war between the government and the Tamil Tigers which last for more than 20 years. More than 60000 people were killed in the war