Although various reports indicate frequent violence and cases of disappearance in northern Sri Lanka, no specific reference to Brahmins could be found among the sources presently available to the IRBDC. Please find attached copies of the following documents which may provide some background information on human rights' abuses and disappearances in Sri Lanka:
-Disappearances in Sri Lanka, (London: Amnesty International, 1986), pp. 11-12;
-Cycles of violence: Human Rights in Sri Lanka since the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement,(Washington: Asia Watch, 1987), PP. 2-3.

In Sri Lanka, the Hindu religion is reported to have approximately 2.2 million members, being the religion of Tamils. [ Encyclopedia of the Third World, (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1987), p. 1813.] The Brahmins in Sri Lanka are reported to be a very small, priestly caste or class. [ "Caste Prejudice: Unspoken, sensitive issue a key in Sri Lanka politics", in The Globe and Mail, 3 October 1988, p. A1.] Castes are reported to form separate sub-communities in each village, with some cases of entire villages containing only one caste. [ Ibid, p. 1814.] In contrast to India's Brahmins, those of Sri Lanka have never assumed a dominating position or monopolized government service or professions and, therefore, have not spawned social and political anti-Brahmin domination movements like those that developed in India. [ Richard F. Nyrop, et al., Area Handbook for India, (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975), pp. 217-219.] The most numerous castes among the Tamil population of Sri Lanka are the Karaiar and the Vellalas; [ Satchi Ponnambalam, Sri Lanka: The National Question and the Tamil Liberation Struggle, (London: Zed Books, 1983), p. 33.] in the Jaffna region, the are over 50 castes and sub-castes, of which the high-caste Vellalas are the most numerous. [ Encyclopedia of the Third World, (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1987), p. 1814.] Although a basing along caste lines has been suggested to take place among the various Tamil militant groups, religious and caste differences have reportedly been largely ignored in the face of a perceived threat from Sinhalese nationalism. [ Sri Lanka: The National Question, pp. 31-32.]