In its mild form, violence is defined as “an outrage, injury or act contrary to one’s feelings or principles”. Of late, the societies, both developed and developing, are afflicted with this endemic problem. The Sri Lankan society, which has been witnessing rising tide of violence, of late, is a case in point. Why
Sri Lanka
, which was once described as the ‘island of serendipity’, is afflicted by the problem of multifaceted violence? What are the various dimensions of violence and how it is justified? Is the problem of violence connected with the ethnic conflict?
Though violence is not new to the Sri Lankan society, the on-set of large-scale violence started in 1970s with the first uprising of the JVP in 1971. Later, with the rise of Tamil militancy, the violence became entrenched in the island state. Both the militants and the state are trapped in the use and justification of violence as a means of overpowering the other. The Tigers in various forms exculpate the resort to violence. The LTTE metaphors itself as a stubborn species of plant, which, if cut by the enemies, springs itself as ten others to continue the task. The Tigers’ ideology of violence is also abstracted from Tamil heritage used to craft a philosophy of violence that dovetailed well with the use of trained troops and professional military tactics. Similar kind of metaphor is used by the Army to “crush” the Tigers. Thus, violence and the counter-violence are justified through allegories of their convenience.
The ethnic violence also got itself entangled and perpetuated due to immature government policies. For instance, draconian laws like Public Security Ordinance and Prevention of Terrorism Act were enacted especially to deal with the Tamil extremists. But, this has aggravated the violence rather than remedying the condition. The Sri Lankan armed forces, which have been trained in the western style and modern models of anti-terrorist techniques, are characterised by what Clausewitz calls “violence pushed to its utmost bounds”. As a consequence, the instrument of violence is being used in ‘disciplining’ population, as the forces lack the ability to identify the nature of violence that an army has to face in the case of insurgency. Thus, a common practice in the case of security forces facing unexpected violence from the militants is targeting the ethnic community to which the militants belong as a kind of surrogate punishment.
Of late, the militants have also started using this as a strategy to provoke communal riots in the south with the expectation that the Sinhalese Army would be pulled back from the war zone to the South to their advantage. The tactics is also used to successfully transform anti-Sinhalese sentiments into pro-militant feelings by the guerillas to sustain support among their community.
Violence is also in the form of inter-group rivalries for supremacy among the Tamil militants locked in themselves hitting against each other. In this regard, the LTTE has ruthlessly eliminated almost all the rival dissident groups, but not without systematic use of violence. This single phenomenon is the reason for the penetration of violence to the grassroots of the Sri Lankan Tamil community.
The violence also suffused itself community wise when the LTTE started targeting Muslims due to the latter’s refusal to support the cause of Eelam. The displaced Muslims even went to the extent of organising themselves on the lines of militia in the name of El Jihad. The militarisation of the communities, obviously, resulted in indiscriminate use of violence.
This does not mean that the ongoing ethnic conflict is the only source for the prevalence of violence in the island state. Of late, organised violence has become a mode of conduct of mass politics on the part of political actors and their agents. The party in power so as to retain power tries to make use of the official machinery, including the security forces, which are supposed to be neutral in such exercises. On the other hand, the Opposition too tries hard to capture power. Paradoxically, the means used by both the sides is violence in high proportions.
The conspicuousness of violence is also due the whopping presence of (nearly 25,000 to 30,000) Army deserters, who are on the prowl either master-minding violent acts themselves or operating as hired hit-men. The deserters are dangerous because they use their military training for violence against ordinary citizens.
The violence, thus, has caught the Sri Lankan society like a chronic disease for which immediate surgery is required. The measures are wide-ranging and to detail them is difficult. But they can take the form of overall legislative and electoral reforms, genuine solution to the ongoing ethnic conflict, reformation in the security forces, including training, and proper rehabilitation measures to those affected by the violence.
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