Background Information
See also: Origins of the Sri Lankan civil warDuring the British colonial period, approximately 60% civil service jobs were held by the minority Sri Lankan Tamils. They constituted approximately 15% of the population prior to 1948. This was due to the availability of Western style education as provided by the Protestant American missionaries, Hindu revivalists and local Catholic mission in the Tamil dominant Jaffna peninsula. After gaining independence from Britain in 1948, Sinhalese politicians made the apparent over representation a political issue. They initiated measures aimed at correcting the over representation by establishing ethnic quotas for University entrants. These measures, and a series of riots and pogroms starting from 1958 that targeted Sri Lankan Tamils and the resultant mass murder, displacements and refugees, led to the formation of rebel groups advocating independence for Sri Lankan Tamils. After the 1983 Black July pogrom, full scale civil war erupted between the government and the rebel groups. During the course of the civil war there were number of massacres of civilians, war rapes, torture and enforced disappearances attributed to both the government and allied groups as well as the various rebel formations.
Read more about this topic: Kumarapuram Massacre
Famous quotes containing the words background and/or information:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedys conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didnt approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldnt have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (19081973)
“Rejecting all organs of information ... but my senses, I rid myself of the Pyrrhonisms with which an indulgence in speculations hyperphysical and antiphysical so uselessly occupy and disquiet the mind.”
—Thomas Jefferson (17431826)