Politics
Map
South Asia
Your Guides
My name is Asha and this is my friend Hanu. We’re here to take you through our home, South Asia.
In school we learned that the British had a lot of influence over the political system in South Asia because they controlled the region for such a long time. The governments in India and Sri Lanka are both based on Britain’s parliamentary system.
South Asia is the largest democratic region in the world, by population.
War in Sri Lanka
The war in Sri Lanka between Tamil and Sinhalese people has been going on since 1983: that’s almost 25 years! The war started for political reasons. The Sinhalese government is fighting against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a military organization that wants to make its own separate country in the northeast part of Sri Lanka. An agreement not to fight anymore was signed in 2002, but the violence continued. It’s gotten much worse since 2005.
South Asia’s Female Leaders
In 1960, Sri Lanka’s Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike became the world’s first female prime minister. Another famous female politician, Indira Ghandi, served on and off as India’s prime minister for 15 years, until she was assassinated in 1984.