Minorities say they're sidelined by Sri Lanka's

Parliament

By Associated Press-14:19 BST, 5

October 2017
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - As lawmakers in Sri Lanka celebrate the 70th
anniversary of the country's parliamentary democracy, one of the oldest in Asia,
minorities including Tamils, Christians and Muslims remain on the fringes of
society.

Even with some representation in Parliament, the minorities complain they have
been sidelined by the majority Buddhist Sinhalese. The Sinhalese-controlled
legislature has done little to heal the wounds left from a quarter-century civil war
that ended in 2009, and still refuses to acknowledge or investigate allegations of
wartime atrocities by the government.

It has been accused of perpetuating rule by the country's 70 percent Sinhalese

majority instead of unifying the multicultural nation.
In this Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, photo, speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament Karu
Jayasuriya, second rightncenter, arrives as lawmakers stand at the beginning of
the sittings held to mark the country's seventieth anniversary of parliamentary
democracy in Colombo, Sri Lanka. As lawmakers in Sri Lanka celebrate the 70th
anniversary of the country's parliamentary democracy, one of the oldest in Asia,
minorities including Tamils, Christians and Muslims remain on the fringes of
society. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

With tensions growing, some, including the prime minister, have questioned
whether Sri Lanka has been successful in its seven-decade state-building process.

"We started 1947 as a united people, but over the past years we had an ethnic
conflict ... to the point of a civil war," Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told a
special session of Parliament on Tuesday to celebrate its 70th anniversary.

"We safeguarded democracy through all that, but we are yet to provide a political
solution and unify the country," he said.

Others say that, while democracy - based on majority rule - has helped Sri Lanka
on many fronts, it has also caused harm. Jehan Perera of the National Peace
Council, a local peace research and activist group, argues that the political system
has increased divisions in the tropical island nation.

"In a country of ethnic divisions, majority rule can be a dictatorship by a

permanent majority over a permanent minority," he said.

The divisions surfaced quickly after Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, won
independence from British rule in 1948.

Within two years, the first post-independence Parliament stripped hundreds of

thousands of mostly Tamil tea plantation workers of Indian origin of their
citizenship and right to vote. That prompted fears among indigenous Tamil
leaders, who demanded a federal form of self-rule in the country's north and east
where they form a majority.

In 1956 a new government came to power on a wave of Sinhalese Buddhist

nationalism and quickly abolished English as the language of government,
instituting Sinhala as the only national language. That marked the starting point of
an ethnic conflict that later flared into a vicious civil war that killed at least
100,000 people, according to U.N. estimates.

Non-violent campaigns by Tamil leaders demanding equal status for minority

Tamils were attacked, and anti-Tamil riots killed hundreds of people. Thousands
of other Tamils fled the country.

A cry for an independent Tamil state soon strengthened, and from the early 1970s
Tamil youths in the north and east began taking up arms and launching sporadic
attacks on police and government installations. Tamil politicians, meanwhile,
boycotted discussions on crafting the first constitution because they said their
concerns were not considered by the Parliament at the time.

It wasn't until state-backed Sinhalese mobs launched countrywide riots and

attacks against Tamils in 1983 that civil war erupted in earnest. The riots left Tamil
villages burned and hundreds dead.
Hundreds of thousands fled the country, while many of those who remained
joined Tamil militant groups.

Faced with a bloody conflict, Parliament attempted several constitutional changes

to share some power with the Tamil minority and nullify the call for separatism. It
introduced provincial councils through an India-brokered peace accord in 1987.

But the councils fell short of Tamil demands for autonomy, and Sinhalese opposed
them for giving too much power to the minority group.

Parliament had also changed its stand on the language issue and included Tamil as
an official language, but statelessness and voting rights of plantation workers of
Indian origin weren't fully settled until the early 2000s.

"There is no reason to be proud of our parliamentary democracy, it has been a

failure," said senior Tamil journalist Veeragathy Thanabalasingham.

"As early as 1948 the government started enacting laws to suppress minorities. As
a result, a war erupted. Even after such destruction, the Sinhala polity has not had
a change of mind in order to prevent more conflicts in the future," he said.

The war ended in 2009 after Sri Lankan soldiers killed the leader of the Tamil Tiger
rebels, and many hoped that would lead to a period of post-war reconciliation
and a resolution of widespread war crimes allegedly perpetrated by both sides.

But no independent investigations have been allowed to take place. Meanwhile,

the military remains powerful, occupying barracks lined with barbed wire and
private lands across the former conflict zone. Efforts to reform Sri Lanka's police,
judiciary and other institutions to reflect the country's ethnic composition have
crawled, exacerbating minority fears.

Last year, Parliament passed a proposal by Wickremesinghe to begin writing a

new constitution to provide more minority rights and power sharing. However,
the drafting has been delayed by political divisions and opposition from influential
Buddhist monks.
Any proposed new constitution would have to be passed by a two-thirds majority
in the Sinhalese-controlled Parliament and then be approved in a public
referendum.
Meanwhile, Parliament remains far from achieving a consensus on how to deal
with the allegations of wartime atrocities and human rights abuses - both efforts
that draw strong protests from Sinhalese nationalists.
There are also divisions between the two main parliamentary parties that have
formed a unity government, with Wickremesinghe's group pushing reforms while
President Maithripala Sirisena's party has been more circumspect.
The patience of Tamil leaders has been dwindling.
"We have all learned many lessons from the most harmful situations that have
prevailed in our country," said Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, an opposition leader
in Parliament and the main Tamil leader.

"It would be a tragedy if in the name of patriotism, more exactly pseudo

patriotism, anyone seeks to prolong these harmful situations."
FILE- In this Oct. 3, 2017, file photo, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, left,
and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe attend a special session held to mark
the country's seventieth anniversary of the first parliament of democracy, in
Colombo, Sri Lanka. As lawmakers in Sri Lanka celebrate the 70th anniversary of
the country's parliamentary democracy, one of the oldest in Asia, minorities
including Tamils, Christians and Muslims remain on the fringes of society. (AP
Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

FILE- In this July 13, 2007, file photo, Tamil Tiger fighters get ready for a rehearsal
of breaking through outer defense lines of a military camp, at a training camp in
an undisclosed location deep in Tiger controlled territory, northeast of Colombo,
Sri Lanka. As lawmakers in Sri Lanka celebrate the 70th anniversary of the
country's parliamentary democracy, one of the oldest in Asia, minorities including
Tamils, Christians and Muslims remain on the fringes of society. The Sinhalese-
controlled legislature has done little to heal the wounds left from a quarter-
century civil war that ended in 2009, and still refuses to acknowledge or
investigate allegations of wartime atrocities by the government. (AP
Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

FILE- In this July 10, 2007, file photo, Sri Lankan troops fire a multi-barrel rocket
launcher aimed at Tamil Tiger targets close to Thoppigala, about 240 kilometers
(150 miles) northeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka. As lawmakers in Sri Lanka celebrate
the 70th anniversary of the country's parliamentary democracy, one of the oldest
in Asia, minorities including Tamils, Christians and Muslims remain on the fringes
of society. The Sinhalese-controlled legislature has done little to heal the wounds
left from a quarter-century civil war that ended in 2009, and still refuses to
acknowledge or investigate allegations of wartime atrocities by the government.
(AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)
FILE- In this May 19, 2012, file photo, Sri Lankan army snipers march during the
annual victory day parade marking the third anniversary of defeating Tamil Tiger
rebels in Colombo, Sri Lanka. As lawmakers in Sri Lanka celebrate the 70th
anniversary of the country's parliamentary democracy, one of the oldest in Asia,
minorities including Tamils, Christians and Muslims remain on the fringes of
society. The Sinhalese-controlled legislature has done little to heal the wounds
left from a quarter-century civil war that ended in 2009, and still refuses to
acknowledge or investigate allegations of wartime atrocities by the government.
(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)
FILE- In this Dec. 18, 2006, file photo, Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil civilians who fled
Tamil Tiger rebel held areas fearing escalation of violence stand in a line to get
into the government controlled area in Riditenne, about 250 kilometers (156
miles) east of Colombo, Sri Lanka. As lawmakers in Sri Lanka celebrate the 70th
anniversary of the country's parliamentary democracy, one of the oldest in Asia,
minorities including Tamils, Christians and Muslims remain on the fringes of
society.The Sinhalese-controlled legislature has done little to heal the wounds left
from a quarter-century civil war that ended in 2009, and still refuses to
acknowledge or investigate allegations of wartime atrocities by the government.
(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)
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