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Accession Number:
ADA561988
Title:
Defeating Terrorism through a Politico-Military Strategy: The Sri Lankan Experience
Descriptive Note:
Research paper
Corporate Author:
ARMY WAR COLL CARLISLE BARRACKS PA
Report Date:
2012-03-21
Pagination or Media Count:
84.0
Abstract:
Sri Lanka is an island nation situated near the southern tip of India. Its land mass is 25,332 square miles in extent, and it is blessed with a population of 21 million people who belong to three distinct ethic groups Sinhalese 74, Tamils 18, and Muslims 7. The colonial policy of Divide et impara and short-sighted policies of certain Sinhalese and Tamil extremist socialist and nationalist elements in the post-independence era led to social movements in the 1920s and 1950s, respectively. In the 1970s, these movements transformed into insurgencies and terrorism and lasted for nearly three decades. The governments that came into power from 1983 to 1990 failed to successfully resolve the insurgency problem due to geopolitical influences and a failure to comprehensively frame the ethnic problem. However, governments since 1990 finally comprehended the dynamics of the ethnic problem and, through a pragmatic counterterrorism strategy, were successful in isolating the ruthless international terrorist organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam LTTE. The LTTE was finally defeated in May 2009. This defeat was a result of the comprehensive politico-military strategy developed and implemented by the Sri Lankan government.
Distribution Statement:
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
