Acknowledgments
This publication emerged from a conference organised by the
International Centre for Ethnic Studies in August 2017. The
conference brought together a broad range of scholars and
practitioners, who have been researching and working on the
area, with a view to developing an enhanced and nuanced
understanding of the issues and challenges on the subject, and
generating recommendations for law, policy, and practice.
For ten years after the end of the war in May 2009, political and
academic debate and discussion on ethnic reconciliation have
centred on a simplistic Sinhala-Tamil binary, ignoring other
ethnic groups and the multiplicity of Tamil, Muslim, and other
identities on the island. Many of the issues pertaining to majorityminority relations and power sharing remain unresolved, 70 years
after independence. Despite numerous political proclamations
and changes in government, limited progress has been made
to seek real and genuine reconciliation that takes account of
the aspirations of the several ethnic and religious groups in the
country.
This book addresses the challenges that Up-country Tamils face
in contemporary Sri Lanka, politically, economically, and socially,
as well as the historical origins and structural determinants of
their current predicament.
The International Centre for Ethnic Studies would like to thank
the two editors, Daniel Bass and Balasingham Skanthakumar,
for staying with this project, despite other commitments, and
seeing the book through to publication. ICES would also like to
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