Sri Lanka

**Sri Lanka** is a small island nation located south of Dravida Nadu in the Indian Ocean.

## History

Sri Lanka entered the 2020s with a very unstable economy leading to a very unstable political climate. The COVID Pandemic and the resulting economic crisis has led to violent crackdowns on the populace mostly protesting on rising food prices. As the IMF became increasingly reliable, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa turned to China for economic aid. While the Chinese “Debt Trap” was a myth before, now it was going to be real. China lended massive economic and food aid to Sri Lanka while slowly increasing their presence in the Island country itself. Many of Sri Lanka’s ports were leased to Chinese companies and Trincomalee Bay, one of the world’s biggest natural harbors, was to be turned into a Chinese shipping and military base. China intended to turn Sri Lanka into a base in the Indian Ocean linking their African holdings to Mainland China. It seemed that the The Sri Lanka People's Front had sold out their country in order to maintain their political power by appeasing the populace.

Despite the economical normalization brought by Chinese influence, many people still felt dissatisfied and marginalized. Most notable of these were nationalists who felt that the China arrangement mostly benefits the rich and not all of Sri Lanka, along with Sri Lankan Tamils who still felt discriminated against economically and socially. Another group which increasingly radicalized in the 2020s and 2030s were the Sri Lankan moors who gave in to Anti-Chinese rhetoric. Despite these various groups growing in numbers, Chinese dominance in the Island prevented any of these groups from even threatening the ruling government. This changed in 2042 during the great Shanghai Financial Crisis when Sri Lanka was particularly affected hard. The following food shortages led to these groups growing rapidly in size and radicalizing. The Sri Lankan Tamils increasingly leaned towards Socialist ideals where they want to join the Commune of India as a state as they see the Commune of India’s relative prosperity. As China's grip on the Internationale loosened, the Tamils would form a combined group known as the New Tamil Tigers (NTT) whose goals are Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism as well as socialism. The Sri Lankan Nationalist would unite under a front known as the Salvation for Sri Lanka front with numerous support from the Theravada Buddhist clergy in the Island who felt that China is a threat to Buddhism. Secretly, the Salvation for Sri Lanka front was supported by ASEAN who sensed Chinese weakness as well as an opportunity to deny the Worker’s Internationale another state in Asia.

With all these groups radicalizing, all it took was a powder keg to embroil Sri Lanka into another civil war. On October 5 2062, a Tamil teenager was shot by the police in Colombo for allegedly putting out treasonous posters. Enraged by this action, the New Tamil Tigers immediately armed themselves with the help of the Internationale and declared war on the Government. Immediately, they gained control over the north and east of Sri Lanka. Sensing the time, the Salvation for Sri Lanka front immediately rose up in response to, dominating the South of the country. The 2nd Sri Lankan Civil War has just begun. Despite having larger numbers and a population advantage, the Nationalists and the New Tamil Tigers consistently defeated the government forces. However, both factions also immediately fought each other whenever they could as the nationalists viewed the Internationale backed Tamils as a threat to Sri Lanka while the New Tamil Tigers. The three sides would reach a stalemate for 5 years when the unthinkable happened. Concurrent to the civil war, the belligerent New Pandavas government in India has started a massive war involving the Internationale and ASEAN. This did not affect Sri Lanka at first until 2057 when India launched Operation Varuna. The Indians used their nukes to launch a Tsunami bigger than the one in 2004. The Tsunami completely annihilated the northern and eastern coastline of Sri Lanka. The nuking of Chennai also caused a lot of radiation to spread across Sri Lanka, further causing damage to the Island. As a result of this sudden massive event, all the sides of the civil war agreed on a ceasefire in order to deal with this. The recent alliance between ASEAN and the Worker’s Internationale also aided in the decision for a ceasefire as India represents an existential threat to every faction involved. In return for helping the reconstruction of Sri Lanka, ASEAN and the Worker’s Internationale were allowed to use Sri Lanka as a massive military base to help in the war effort. As a result, hundreds of thousands of soldiers from ASEAN and the Worker’s Internationale were stationed there.

Surprisingly, the rest of the War did not have much consequences to Sri Lanka as the Indian army never even got close to invading the Island owing to ASEAN naval supremacy. In 2061, the end of the Indian war was signed in the capital city of Colombo by ASEAN who excluded the Internationale and the new Indian government who just overthrew the New Pandavas in a revolution. Immediately after the treaty of Colombo was signed, the civil war resumed. However, the Worker’s Internationale has recalled most of their soldiers to fight in America and the remaining soldiers were already detained by ASEAN soldiers. With the help of tens of Thousands of ASEAN soldiers, the nationalists easily won the civil war and established a new Republic of Sri Lanka. The new Republic of Sri Lanka immediately applied to join ASEAN though they would only be accepted if they cleared out all elements of the Worker’s Internationale in the island first. With the help of ASEAN soldiers, the remnants of the New Tamil Tigers were ruthlessly eliminated with suspected members being thrown into camps to be tortured and interrogated. Numerous reports claimed that ASEAN soldiers engaged in indiscriminate killings and rape among the Tamil population with the intent of “elimininating” the presence of the Worker’s Internationale. To this day, ASEAN still denies any form of war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during their post Civil War operations. The 2063 great flooding severely impacted Sri Lanka with a lot of deaths and infrastructure destruction. Only with ASEAN’s help was Sri Lanka able to barely recover. Only in 2067 was Sri Lanka finally admitted into ASEAN as an integral part of it in the Indian Ocean. Despite high hopes for the future of Sri Lanka, the ghosts of the Civil War still loom over the Island Nation, with the Sri Lankan Tamils especially remembering the intense suffering over the war.