Sinhala nationalists reacted angrily last week to a statement published by the US State Department which recognised Sri Lanka’s conflict as one based on ethnic identities and the LTTE as a product of this tension.
“Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils have been in armed conflict with the majority Sinhalese government in Colombo since the 1970s, seeking to establish an autonomous region in northeastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE (also known as the ‘Tamil Tigers’) has been the leading force in that conflict since the 1980s,” a statement welcoming the agreements reached last month at the talks in Geneva said.
Sinhala nationalists argue that Sri Lanka’s conflict is merely a phenomena of terrorism, rather than one based on ethnic grievances.
“The editor of the State Department web site either does not know what this conflict is all about or expressing the long established belief in the minds of the State Department officials, who have been fed by the US Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) who served in Colombo since the eighties, that Sri Lanka’s conflict is between the minority Tamils and the government controlled by the majority Sinhalese,” one newspaper supportive of the Sinhala nationalist position.
“Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils have been in armed conflict with the majority Sinhalese government in Colombo since the 1970s, seeking to establish an autonomous region in northeastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE (also known as the ‘Tamil Tigers’) has been the leading force in that conflict since the 1980s,” a statement welcoming the agreements reached last month at the talks in Geneva said.
Sinhala nationalists argue that Sri Lanka’s conflict is merely a phenomena of terrorism, rather than one based on ethnic grievances.
“The editor of the State Department web site either does not know what this conflict is all about or expressing the long established belief in the minds of the State Department officials, who have been fed by the US Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) who served in Colombo since the eighties, that Sri Lanka’s conflict is between the minority Tamils and the government controlled by the majority Sinhalese,” one newspaper supportive of the Sinhala nationalist position.
