Tamil Tiger capital sized by Sri Lankan forces

[Pawn Power]

Sri Lankan president hails victory as army seizes Tamil Tiger capital (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/02/srilanka)


The Sri Lankan army today seized control of Kilinochchi, the low-lying northern town in which separatist Tamil Tiger rebels had put together the institutions of their long sought-after independent state.


The major symbolic victory for the government could also prove a decisive turning point in the country's 25-year civil war

[Revy]

Do you know that Sri Lanka calls itself the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka"? Madness...

[Mindtoaster]

Could anyone tell me the differences between the Tamilis and the rest of Sri Lanka. Why do they want an independent state, were they oppressed?

I don't know much about Sri Lanka.

[Chapter 24]

^ I don't know much about Sri Lanka either, but searching through the board today for threads about the Tamil Tigers I found this post by a member who is a Tamil living in India. :

http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=817894&postcount=4

He/She doesn't appear to post here all that much anymore, but I managed to find out more about the situation and what the organization's purpose is.

[Vargha Poralli]

That was me some time ago.

This is not the first time Tigers have lost the city and went in to Vanni Jungles. They have bounced back in the past - the only difference now is that Sinhalese govt have one new advantage to its side - support from Indian intelligence and navy.

The war is not going to end so soon. For Tamil people there is nothing new they are going to suffer.They are already in hell. The only hope we can have for them is they would not give up their struggle.

[Sankara1983]

Could anyone tell me the differences between the Tamilis and the rest of Sri Lanka. Why do they want an independent state, were they oppressed?

I don't know much about Sri Lanka.

In a (very superficial) nutshell, the Tamils are a minority group that mostly adheres to Hinduism. They have been antagonized since independence by a government dominated by the Sinhalese who have tried to entrench the Sinhalese language and Buddhist religion as the dominant characteristics of Sri Lanka's people. Of course some of these divisions date back to British rule but the election of a "left-wing" Sinhala-chauvinist government shortly after independence made tensions much worse, and this led to the pogroms and civil war we have today.

As for the name "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka," this is a relic of a Constitution that was authored primarily by a Trotskyist politician named Colvin R. de Silva. It lists a wide range of social welfare provisions, but explicitly states that they are non-justiciable (i.e., they are not legally binding and citizens can not go to court to force the state to provide them).

[Asoka89]

I wrote something on Sri Lanka a while back, PM me with your email if you want a copy (goes for anyone)