Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency conference report, numbered RTT 95-10039 and dated October 1995, presents the proceedings of a conference held 30 September to 1 October 1993. The CIA's Geographic Resources Division sponsored the conference. In it, academic geographers, anthropologists and US Government officials examined ethnic conflict by region, covering Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and South Asia. The report also discusses what these conflicts mean for US policy. It does not deal with UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena.
“The Advance”17 pages
t 'Appr0ved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268 percentage drop below 50 percent. However, the loca- tion—-and here we come into the geographic aspects that were emphasized by Dr. Murphy-—of these three districts complicates the task of regionalization. Two of the plurality districts—Trincomalee and Amparai— are in Eastem Province and present the same defini- tional problem as produced by the larger provincial units. The third district, Nuwara Eliya, is located in the center of the country, where it is surrounded by Sinhalese majority districts. Furthermore, the ethnic population that holds the plurality is the Indian Tamil community. Therefore, if a definition of “Tamil popu- lation” were to be expanded ti) combine both the Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, the resulting different eth- nic map would produce a Tamil region having a non- contiguous exclave. i Minor civil divisions below the district level are too small for political autonomy. ;That does not mean, however, that these units cannot be used as a basis for a regionalization scheme. However, the spatial frag- mentation of the Sri Lankan Tamils in the peripheral zone persists at this scale. In t_he'Trincomalee District, the population residing alongja narrow coastal sliver forms a plurality consisting of a third ethnic group— the Moors. The geometric complexity of ethnic con- centrations is partially solved if the Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils are considered as members of the same ethnic category because the plurality population of this coastal strip shifts to being Tamil. Although such a redefinition of the Tamil population tends to solve some of the problems of contiguity along the east coast, as noted above, it complicates the regional- ization task in the central part of the country. Thus, it is evident that a major contributor to ethnic conflicts is the distributional pattern of contending populations. Also, this Sri Lankan situation reinforces the generalization made yesterday: the areas where atrocities are most likely to occur, and from which most refugees would originate, are the zones of ethnic transition between the regional core areas of the dif- fering ethnic groups. ' Now, let me shift to the second topic which concems India, where I would like to deal with a nonterritorial conflict. My own interests have usually focused upon ethnoregionalism more than on the nonspatial inter- class struggles for power. However, interclass strate- gies have real implications for the Hindu nationalist movement. It is critical to note that we are dealing with two major perspectives on Indian nationalism, the secular and the Hindu. Indian secular nationalism is well illustrated by the leadership of Nelnu, who expounded, prac- ticed, and institutionalized the pluralistic society. From this perspective, the Indian nation-state is based upon a syncretic view of Indian culture and a federal system of govemment. All religions, all jatis, all lan- guages, and all people within the territory of this country have equal opportunity under the law, accord- ing to the Constitution. The laws of the land accom- modate both the wishes of the majority, as expressed by free and democratic elections, and the rights of the minorities. In contrast, Hindu nationalists believe that the nation should be based not only on common culture but also upon the religion of Hinduism. The more extreme forms want to mle India as a Hindu state and rid the country of all non-I-Iindu persons and influences. The more benign fonns of Hindu nationalism seek unity among the various castes and languages in India through the common heritage of living within a “Hin- duized” land. From the perspective of flie Hindu nationalists, Bud- dhists, Jains, and Sikhs already share a more or less simliar sacred geography. Because of their origins, their holy lands are within the same Hinduized land. The Iews and the Parsis came from foreign areas, but, because these communities are small, they have not been a particular problem. On the other hand, Hindus view Christians and Muslims—with their doctrinaire ideas—-as a problem. The nonacceptance of Muslims is especially strong because: - Muslims are associated with the invasions from circa 1000 to later than 1500. 147 Approved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 205 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.