The Civil War - Fiji and Sri Lanka
The Editor
San Francisco Chronicle.
Mr. Ranjan Gupta, in The Civil War, published on 30 May, misses the mark by comparing Fiji to Sri Lanka based on one brief visit. Firstly, all Sri Lankans are of Indian origin. The original Sinhalese came from the region of Bengal 2,600 years ago and went to South India for their wives (as recorded in the chronicle, The Mahavamsa, written in the 5th century A.D.) Subsequent migrations of Indians from Kerala and Tamil Nadu were absorbed into the same population to become Sinhalese. The Sinhala language is an Indian language based on Pali and Sanskrit, and so is Sinhala culture. The Northern Tamils, who constitute 12% of the population, are descendants of the Chola and Pandyan invaders from South India. South Indian invasions of Sri Lanka date back to the 1st century B.C.
Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka by the great Indian Emperor Asoka Maurya in the 3rd century B.C. The Kings of the Sinhala Kingdom from 1750 to the British occupation were from the South Indian Kerala royal family, into which the Sinhalese Royal family had married. Buddhist temples in Sri L:anka have Hindu kovils and even the sacred Temple of the Tooth, the holiest Buddhist shrine, is associated with four large ancient Hindu temples in Kandy.
Sinhala was made the official language in 1956 but it was changed and Sinhala and Tamil are both official languages (would the USA consider making Hispanic an official language where Hispanics number 18%?). It is also untrue to say that Tamil students have to score more than Sinhalese to gain admission to universities. There is affirmative action that applies to under-privileged areas where students need lower marks to enter universities and this affects both Sinhalese and Tamils in the richer urban provinces.
60% of the Tamils live in the predominantly Sinhalese areas and occupy high positions in business and the professions, holding many senior cabinet posts in the government, including the post of Foreign Minister.
Finally, let us not forget that the Tamil Tiger movement was initially militarily trained and armed by India in the time of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, as was well documented in the Indian press in the past. So India does have a responsibility for the situation in Sri Lanka today.
Abhaya.