Armed Conflict Is the Most Serious Consequence of the Conflict in Sri Lanka

Armed conflict is the most serious consequence of the conflict in Sri Lanka. Do you agree with the statement? Explain your answer.

I agree to a large extent that armed conflict is the most serious consequence of the conflict in Sri Lanka.

Armed conflict is a serious consequence of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka because it has led to the destruction of the society in Sri Lanka by causing an estimated 64,000 deaths since 1956. The violence came in the form of wars and riots, the riots being anti-Tamil riots where numerous Tamils were killed and millions of worth of property was destroyed in the years 1956, 1958, 1971, 1977 and 1983. The war came in the form of the civil war between the Tamil militia group, the LTTE and the Army of Sri Lanka which have battled for control over the Jaffna peninsula. This civil war again caused the loss of many civilians' lives and destruction of property. The violence has disrupted the lives of many in Sri Lanka as they have to face the loss of their relatives as well as their houses and businesses. The armed conflict has also led to the further segregation of the two communities in Sri Lanka as violence worsened their hostilities and the younger generation grew up with greater prejudices of their racial group due to this segregation. Hence, the resultant armed conflict in Sri Lanka has severely harmed the population in Sri Lanka as it caused the deaths of thousands and caused the displacement of many more, furthermore deepening the rift between the Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka. Thus, armed conflict is a serious consequence of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

However, there were other consequences such as the damage to the economy. The ongoing ethnic conflict led to the loss of investments. This loss of foreign investment is evident as Sri Lanka's investment dropped from US$66 million in 1982 to US$39 million in 1983 and further to US$22 million in 1989. As Sri Lanka is still a developing country, this loss of external funds has disallowed the development of vital industries and businesses as the people have insufficient technical and financial capability to do so. Furthermore, 53.4% of Sri Lanka's GDP is composed of services, mainly to tourism industry which is developed mostly by foreign companies. This loss of investments and hence the loss of tourism facilities, coupled with fears of internal violence, has resulted in the steady decrease in tourist arrivals. This is particularly damaging to the economy of Sri Lanka which depends quite a lot on tourism for revenue. Thus, the economic damage done by the conflict would have definitely eliminated years of economic progress for Sri Lanka and hence is a serious consequence of the ethnic conflict.

Moreover, the political damage caused by the ethnic conflict is also a serious consequence as it destabilizes the government by undermining its capability domestically and regionally. India's intervention in the ongoing conflict has undermined the prestige and credibility of the Sri Lankan government as India actually helped the government's enemy by airdropping supplies into Jaffna when it was under siege by Sri Lankan forces in 1987 and forcing Sri Lanka to sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord on the same year in which the Sri Lankan Government made a number of concessions to Tamil demands, which included devolution of power to the provinces, a merger of the northern and eastern provinces, and official status for the Tamil language. This is seen as a defeat to the Sri Lankan government whom has always regarded the LTTE as rebels and has tried to eliminate them, causing them to lose support domestically and lose prestige regionally. Furthermore, the Tamil suicide attacks targeting high profile leaders, the most daring one being the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa in May 1993, has destabilized the government as posts frequently required new candidates and election procedures were held often. Thus, the political damage is a serious consequence of the ethnic conflict as it brings about political instability.

Armed conflict should be the most serious consequence as it is not limited only to social damages. The economic damage caused by the decrease in foreign investments for example, would surely have been worsened by the armed conflict as foreign individuals and companies lose confidence in investing as their purchased properties or established business may be more easily destroyed by people fighting with firearms. India's intervention, which has contributed to the political damage, may not happen if the fighting did not escalate to the scale that there were armed battles in which thousands of people whom they share ethnic kinship were killed. Suicide attacks, another contributor to political damage, usually requires extreme hostilities to be existent between two parties before it could happen as the bomber must have a strong justification. These extreme hostilities most likely came about armed conflict in which killings and massacres worsened tensions and segregation. Hence, armed conflict should be the most serious consequence as it not only damages the population of Sri Lanka a lot, but indirectly worsened the impacts of other consequences such as the economic damage and political damage.