“The ethnic conflicts affected India’s relations with Sri Lanka.” Justify.

Both the countries, India and Sri Lanka, became independent almost at the same time and remained democratic till date. Since time immemorial, both countries have cultural, economic and ethnic ties. The ethnic conflict between majority Sinhala and Tamil speaking minority went as follows:

1) The conflict aroused when the Tamil speaking minorities were treated unequally by the Sri Lankan government. The neglect of Tamil concerns led to militant Tamil nationalism.

2) The Sri Lankan problem involved people of Tamil origin hence the government of India felt pressure from the Tamil people in India to protect the interests of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

3) In 1987, the government of India got directly involved in the Sri Lankan Tamil question. India signed an accord with Sri Lanka and sent troops to normalize the situation.

4) The presence of Indian troops was not liked by the Sri Lankans. They saw it as an attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.

5) Eventually, India decided not to interfere when the Sri Lankan government ceased all wars due to mass killings and bloodshed.

Hence the relations between India and Sri Lanka were affected due to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and India’s interference in their civil matter which was not liked by Sri Lankans.