Glimpses of the Pearl in the Indian Ocean

It was not love at first sight, rather Sri Lanka grew on me slowly and then the love story began. 

As the Tata Nano budget taxi wheeled out of the airport, Sri Lanka dispelled all the preconceived opinion I have had about the 'Pearl Island' - a name that the country got owing to its shape. I was expecting a developing country left in shambles due to the nearly three decades-long protracted war. What I saw was sprawling highways and amazingly clean capital city, devoid of the garbage heaps that are generally associated with Delhi. I was expecting highly conservative society peculiar to the Indian subcontinent where wearing a skirt in public can be an invitation to “unfortunate” events. But I found that even though the society was conservative, it did not impose its values on tourists, so tourists were free to wear what they wanted.

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is a world heritage site.

Since 2009, when the last of the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Ealem’s (LTTE) bastion fell to the Sri Lankan security forces, the country has made huge progress. The monetary aid from China and India are also an important contributor to this. While China has been investing in developing ports in Colombo in the West and Hambantota in the South, India’s contribution helped in relinking the northern Jaffna by train after 24 long years. I could not see the landmark event. But had the chance to travel through the region that has been one of the major war theatres in 2009 and has seen sustained conflict for two and a half decades. This effectively means that a complete generation has been raised in an atmosphere of hatred where for a Tamil the only face to the Sinhalese community has been that of the armed forces and a Sinhalese identified only LTTE rebels with being Tamil.

The sun rise at Arugam Bay on the South East Coast of the Island nation

 Ideally after spending one a half months on the island, one would want to write about the mesmerizing sunrises and sunsets that all the coastal regions of the country offer or about the white sand beaches overlooking the Indian Ocean. But I think that no Sri Lankan story can even begin before talking about where the country stands vis-à-vis the bloody conflict that once crippled the normal life here. During my stay, I had the chance of interacting with people from all hues – different religions, races and linguistic communities. On the surface things seems to be limping back to normalcy in the last five years, but scratch the surface a bit and one can see the root causes of the conflict still intact. This raises question about how sustainable is the peace especially in the light of the rising religious nationalism in the majority Sinhalese community.

Jaffna-Mullaitivu

Do not let the development and glitter of Colombo deceive you. The North and north-eastern parts of Sri Lanka are still miles away from getting the fruits of development and human security. Freedom – both civil and political – remains an alien word. The political power remains centralized. The long pending demand of the Central government handing over the control of the police to the local government has been hanging fire and is far from being met. And to add to all this, the armed forces still have a strong control over these regions including those who are travelling to these places. When I was visited Jaffna, foreigners visiting North were required to register at Oamanthai Checkpoint. However, in October an indefinite ban on visits of foreign passport holder to the North was imposed owing to the threat that some of them pose to the “national security”.

The Jaffna Railway Station days before Yarl Devi chugged into Jaffna after 24 years.

The Sri Lankan government talks about the reconciliation among the community, but there seems to be a dichotomy between its actions and words. While visiting these regions, I came across stories where, the army has allegedly done things like building its unit infrastructure over Tamil graveyards. While the government’s refusal to launch a probe into the alleged Human Rights violation can be understood as the predicament of a government trying to stand behind its armed forces, the refusal to acknowledge the grievances of Tamils is unfathomable. Sinhalese continues to be the preferred language for imparting education. 

Jaffna Public Library was burnt down in 1981 as part of the structured marginalisation of the ethnic Tamils. At the time of destruction the library was one of the biggest in the Asia with 97,000 books and manuscripts. It was the pride of the rich intellectual history of Tamils and Biblioclasm was used as weapon to destroy that pride. It was rebuilt in 2002 by the Sri Lankan government.

In other words, Sri Lanka is a police state, and any move to criticize the government or make it accountable is dealt with heavy hands. I met one such journalist/activist who has been trying to evade arrest because of his vocal criticism of Mahinda Rajapaksa government. Foreigners working on these issues also need to be very discreet or you face deportation or entry into the infamous blacklist that would debar one from entering the country.

Rising Religious Nationalism

In India I was used to having seats reserved for women, senior citizens or pregnant mothers in the public transport. In Sri Lanka I was a bit surprised to see seats reserved for “Clergy”. After the initial shock, it was the turn of shattering of many other notions.

There has been a clamour from the right wing Buddhists to change the national flag to reflect only the Sinhalese Buddhist community, as Sri Lanka is their homeland. Presently, the flag consists of a golden Lion wielding a sword depicting the Sinhalese nationality, the four Bo leaves depict the communities of Metta, Karuna, Mudita and Upekkha. The orange stripe is representative of the Tamils and the green of Sri Lankan Moors.

For me Buddhism has always been synonymous with “non-violence”. However, in Sri Lankan the aggressive movement to make Sinhalese Buddhist as the national identity is presently underway creating schism in the already fragmented society along religious lines. The Sinhalese Buddhists, who form three quarter of the Sri Lankan population, have been claiming itself to be ‘minority in the world’, thus requiring the government’s protection. 

This the Buddhist temple in Nagadeepa. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's huge hoardings are ubiquitous in the whole Island. In this photograph his hoarding is seen next to the Buddha statue.

 A small issue like introduction of certification for Halal food in the market last year brought a furore in the national politics. Bodu Bal Sena (Buddhist Power Army), a hardline organization, has used it to create a fear psychosis in the country. The religious atmosphere in the country has been so vitiated that it has resulted into anti-Muslim violence in June this year. Many educated Sinhalese Buddhists reiterate the BBS claim the minority Muslim community is growing both exponentially and has been eating into the jobs and services that rightfully belong to the majority community.