Transcript Proving a claim

“Proving a claim”
Question Target: Student is able
to draw conclusions based on a
reasoned consideration of
evidence and arguments within
the source, and to use other
sources to corroborate or refute
the source in question.
Questions:
• 1(a) Study Source A. What is the message of this
source? Explain your answer.[5 marks]
• (b) Study Source B and Source C. In what ways are
Sources B and C similar? [6 marks ]
• (c) Study Source D. How reliable is Source D in showing
that Tamil actions were the main cause of the conflict?
Explain you answer. [7 marks ]
• (d) Study Source E
• Does Source E prove that the British were
responsible for the ethnic conflict in Sri
Lanka? Explain your answer.
• [7 marks ]
Background
Issue: Who was responsible for the ethnic conflict in Sri
Lanka?
Sri Lanka achieved Independence in 1948, after more
than a century British rule. Between 1948 and 1977, the
country managed to impressive record as a stable
democracy. However, since the have been calls made by
Tamil groups to set up a separate Tamil state in the
Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka, where the
majority population Tamil. The Sri Lankan government’s
refusal to grant independence to Tamils led to increasing
tensions between the Sinhalese and Tamils, eventually
led to the Anti-Tamil Riots of 1983 and the outbreak of
This civil war is on-going despite attempts to resolve this
issue. Read following sources to find out about the
factors which led to this ethnic conflict.
Source A This political cartoon is taken from the
Muunaa Tamil Guardian in July 2006.
Source B A statement made by a
retired Indian colonel in May 2000.
Along with this Buddhist revival, the concepts of Sri
Lanka as the land of the Sinhala people only, Aryan in
race, Buddhist in religion and Sri Lanka as the land to
protect Buddhism also surfaced. Tamil separatism grew
in response to this concept of ‘chosen race’ that was
developed by the majority Sinhalese. The belief that Sri
Lanka is the protector of Buddhism, led Sinhala
nationalists to identify India as the enemy – a land where
Buddhism had vanished. This selective ‘anti-Indianism’
thus came about, and the full brunt of it was borne by the
Tamils who in desperation had no choice but to take to
violent struggle.
Source C A Tamil view on what caused the conflict in Sri
Lanka, taken from the website of the Tamil Eelam
movement, which seeks independence from Sri Lanka.
The practice of democracy in Sri Lanka was designed to
continue the oppressive rule of the Sinhala majority
through a series of legislative and administrative acts,
ranging from removal of Tamil voting rights and
standardisation
of
University
admissions,
to
discriminatory language and employment policies, and
colonisation of the homelands of the Tamil people. In
addition to these legislative and administrative acts, the
Sinhalese regularly organised physical attacks on the
Tamil people to terrorise and intimidate them into
submission. It was a course of conduct which led
eventually to the rise of Tamil militancy in the mid 1970s
starting, at first, with sporadic acts of violence.
Source D A Sinhala analyst’s view
on Sinhala-Tamil relations
It is the Tamil politicians who have caused
all the problems. Even the anti-Tamil riots
were instigated by Tamil politicians who
were willing to sacrifice some of their own
people so as to gain political mileage in
their quest for a separate state. The
Sinhalese as a community were never
involved. In fact, Tamils were protected by
their Sinhalese friends and neighbours.
Source E An analysis of Sri Lankan politics by a British writer in
April 2008.
Sri Lanka has always had a Tamil minority that had lived
peacefully alongside the native Sinhalese before
colonisation. However, the British, upon their arrival,
imported close to a million more Tamil workers to staff
the plantations; and favoured this minority, providing
them with education opportunities and positions in the
administration and professions. In 1948, Sri Lanka was
granted independence. The new Sinhalese government
took advantage of the tide of nationalism which flowed
through the nation, and attempted to redress the
imbalance which benefited the Tamils. The steps which
followed: the adoption of Sinhala as the official language,
and the promotion of Buddhism as the national religion,
which were meant to equalise the playing field, instead
stirred a wave of anti-Tamil feeling. The riots that ensued
devastated the Tamil community. Furthermore, they were
pushed out of higher education and the civil service
because they could not speak the national language.