and the Call for Eelam Tamil Self-Determination
by Sahithyan Thilipkumar, December 2023
Master Thesis at University of Zurich’s Faculty of Law
Master_Thesis_Sahithyan_Thilipkumar_ZORA
6. Conclusion
Contemporary discussions on the conflict in Sri Lanka often start with the country’s
independence or the beginning of the war. My thesis examined how the basis of the conflict
was laid during the British colonial rule and was tied to the emergence of British liberalism. I
argue that one of the root causes of the conflict is the genesis of the unitary state with the
administrative unification of the entire island, dismantling previous administrative divisions
based on indigenous structures. Liberal British commissions, aiming to consolidate a unified
Ceylonese identity, increasingly centralised the state structures.
The unitary structure of the state was fundamentally flawed in incorporating the different
established national identities on the island, transferring power solely to the Sinhalese majority
population without considering a different power-sharing structure. In combination with rising
exclusivist Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism, this resulted in the majoritarian policies of successive
Sri Lankan governments after independence, which marginalised the non-Sinhalese
communities on the island. In parallel, the increasing violence against the Tamils, the failed
compromises, and the unwillingness to reform the structures of the state led to the rise of Eelam
Tamil nationalism, which consolidated the Tamil political class and the Tamil masses within a
distinct national Tamil identity.
Challenging the unitary state and the Sinhalese majority domination, the Eelam Tamil nation
called for self-determination and escalated their demands for devolution to federalism and,
finally, separatism, with the Vaddukoddai Resolution and the mandate for an independent Tamil
Eelam.
The clash of Sinhala-Buddhist and Eelam Tamil national identities shaped the different
trajectories of an envisioned state, with the unitary structure of the Sri Lankan state remaining
a central point of contention, unresolved to this day. The search for a solution to the root causes
of the conflict and a power-sharing structure acceptable to the different nations on the island
must consider the historical role of British colonialism, which enabled the unitary structure of
the state and the political entrenchment of Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism.
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