ETHNIC CONFLICT IN SRI LANKA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Ethnic conflict is one of the biggest problems in the modern era. The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka showed a new dimension of conflicts that crippled the whole nation for a long time. The aim of this article is to explore the core problems of the ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka. The first part of this article deal with the definitional terms and the causes and consequences of ethnic conflicts. The second part explored the pre-colonial conflict situations as well as the colonial period. The third part examined the traditional singhala-tamil scenario and dealt with other issues like politics, language, land reforms etc. The fourth dealt with a comparative ethnic conflict situational comparison between former Yugoslavia and Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and by thus developed a linkages and mislinks between the two conflicts. Finally we tried to draw an attention of the readers with the manipulations and politicization of ethnicity.