ABSTRACT
Historically, Tamil-Sinhalese ethnic relations have been marked by both traditional rivalry and peaceful coexistence. During British colonial rule, however, contentious issues that could inflame interethnic relations remained firmly in check. But after independence in 1948, successive Sinhalese-dominated governments openly pandered to Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalist sentiments, and they tried to resolve these contentious issues in ways that favored the Sinhalese community at the expense of the minorities, especially the Tamils. The result was a steep deterioration in interethnic relations in the immediate postindependence era, which turned into a brutal insurgency-counterinsurgency war starting in the early 1980s.
