It all started....
Back in the days of the British Empire. The divide and rule policies
of the British rulers created lots of animosity between the Sinhala majority
and the minority Tamils. And it was the British who brought thousands of Indian Tamils
to work in the then newly established tea estates.
In the '50s during the rule of SWRD Bandaranayake (father of the current president),
a series of laws were passed that drastically reduced the opportunities
for education and employment available to Tamils.
Though many of these laws were repealed by later governments. It didn't
stop the powder keg exploding in 1983 when terrorists killed 13 Sri Lankan
soldiers in The northern province.
Sections of the Sinhala community enraged by this incidence took to the streets
burning and looting Tamil shops and homes. While the authorities took some
time to bring the situation under control.
But the damage was done, the economy and the tourism industry
in particular suffered heavy blows from which it has not fully recovered to-date.
And the support for the Tamil militants grew.
The terrorist problem escalated till the late 80s when President Jayawardana
sought Indian assistance. After the signing of the Indo Lanka peace accord
many of the Terrorist organizations surrendered their weapons and the Indian
Army took over the task of peace keeping in the north and the east
War broke out once more, as the LTTE took to arms again.
And their enemy this time was the mighty Indian Peace Keeping Force.
But the LTTE had the worse of it, and were on the brink of defeat when
President premadasa came to power on the votes of the Sinhala extremists.
At this time Sri Lanka was faced with a another terrorist problem in the south
with the Maoist JVP (Janatha Vimukhi Peramuna) taking to arms.
A common gripe of the JVP and the Sinhala Extremists was the presence of a
foreign army on Sri Lankan soil.
Premadasa bowed to their demands and asked the IPKF to withdraw. And for his
pains was killed of by a suspected LTTE suicide bomber on May Day 1992.
With the IPKF gone the LTTE wasted no time in wiping out
the other militant organizations. President Premadasa turned a blind eye.
Some allege that he even supplied arms to the LTTE during this time.
With the other militants out of the way, the LTTE turned on the Sri Lankan Army.
And the war dragged on with neither side gaining an advantage till the
present government came to power in 1994.
The first thing they did was to hold peace talks with the LTTE, who
used the cease-fire as an opportunity to regroup. And took the government
by complete surprise when they unilaterally broke the peace.