The recent assassination of Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, foreign minister of Sri Lanka, is a blow to the fragile peace process in that country. Hard fought negotiations have yielded a tenuous ceasefire, yet a peace agreement remains beyond reach. Antagonism between ethnic groups has been matched by equally powerful divisions within those ethnic groups. The murder of Mr. Kadirgamar could provide an excuse for the abandonment of the peace process; this must not happen. His killers must be found and punished. The peace process must not become an additional victim of this brutal slaying.
Sri Lanka is a deeply divided country. Sinhalese comprise 74 percent of the population, and their nationalism has alienated many other native ethnic groups. Especially embittered have been the Tamils, who make up 18 percent of the population and are the country's largest minority. Their anger has provided fertile soil for separatist movements that seek to establish a homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The Tamils are by no means united; various groups run the political spectrum. The most hard line of them is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), better known as the Tamil Tigers.
The Tamil Tigers have battled against the government for two decades in a savage conflict marked by brutalities on both sides. The war has claimed some 64,000 lives. There have been ample and well-documented instances of massacres, disappearances and torture. It is estimated that over 386,100 people have been internally displaced by the conflict; nearly 40 percent of which are under 18 years old. As many as 143,000 are refugees in India.