posted February 22, 2002 08:07 PM            

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Sri Lanka is an Indian Ocean island, which according to
historical sources was settled by Indo-Aryans in the 6th century
B.C. These Indo-Aryans were the first Sinhalese, who are 74% of
the population today. The Indo-Aryans assimilated the indigenous
inhabitants who are called Yakkhas in the historical chronicles.
While the country had contacts in historical times with various
foreign races, the Tamil and Muslim minorities of the present
day had no settlements in the island until about the 10th
century A.C.; that is to say about 1,500 years after the
Sinhalese settlement.
From the 19th Century however, Tamil minority leaders have put
forward various claims to political rights unsupported by fact
or principle. From the early 1970s the Tamil political
leadership has sought to enforce even more extreme claims with
the use of violence. From 1949 the Tamils have been claiming the
right to establish a Tamil state in over one third of the
island. A Muslim theocratic party, the only such in a non-Muslim
country, was formed in 1985 with the objective of establishing a
Muslim political region in the island. The Indian Tamils, the
first of whom were brought in the 19th century as labour by the
British, were a floating population until the end of the Second
World War. Though they were all entitled to Indian citizenship
under Article 8 of the Indian constitution, they have been
indiscriminately granted Sri Lankan citizenship by various
Governments of independent Sri Lanka. The Indian Tamil leaders
now expect to establish an Indian Tamil autonomous region in the
heart of the country.
Minority politics particularly Tamil terrorism seek to wreck the
political, financial and cultural life of the country and there
is serious disruption already.
The Sinhala Veera Vidahana was formed on 07 July 1995 to unite
the Sinhalese people in the struggle to save their nation. While
building the economic strength of the Sinhalese people is its
primary objective, it is also involved in other aspects of this
national task.

Last updated on Thursday, 11th October, 2001
Colombo, Sri Lanka(Sinhala)

Ask not what your country can do for you
Ask what you can do for your country !
John F. Kennedy
35th American President