Arunachalam.

S
Ananth.I
 Sri Lankan Tamil people
(Tamil: ஈழத் தமிழர்,) are an ethnic group native
to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka
who predominantly speak Tamil. According to
anthropological evidence, Sri Lankan Tamils
have lived on the island since the 2nd century
BCE. Most modern Sri Lankan Tamils descend
from the Jaffna Kingdom, a former kingdom in
the north of the island and Vannimai
chieftaincies from the east. They constitute a
majority in the Northern Province, live in
significant numbers in the Eastern Province,
and are in the minority throughout the rest of
the country.
Since Sri Lanka gained independence
from Britain in 1948, relations between
the majority Sinhalese and minority
Tamil communities have been strained.
Rising ethnic and political tensions,
along with ethnic riots and pogroms in
1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983, led to the
formation and strengthening of militant
groups advocating independence for
Tamils.
At first, the concept of Tamil Eelam
conceived by the Federal party was a
state within a united Sri Lanka,
The demand for a separate statehood
of Tamil Eelam is believed to have
grown as a result of job opportunities
and university admissions being
severely curtailed for Tamils because of
discriminatory government quotas; and
continuing decline of economic
opportunities
As a result the people began to believe that a
separate state would win back their
opportunities and the concept of Tamil Eelam
was welcomed enthusiastically throughout Tamil
areas
To add to the Tamil people's separatist
sentiments, acts of mass violence, rape,
extrajudicial executions, whole scale round ups,
forced detention, torture and other forms of
inhuman treatment by members of Sinhalese
dominated Sri Lankan security forces within the
North and East provinces have created
communal tensions among the Tamil people
Thus Tamil people believed that only Eelam
 Jaffna has been an important Tamil cultural
centre for centuries. Some books such as
Yalpanam Vaipavama —a history of Jaffna—were
literally irreplaceable, as the library contained
the only existing copy.

 Nothing, however, can be done about the

thousands of priceless Tamil books, manuscripts
and ola [dried palm] leaf documents that went
up in flames in 1981.
 The library, which was inaugurated in 1841 and then
moved to a more majestic building in 1950, had one
of the finest collections in South Asia and was known
throughout the world

 A group of racist thugs, instigated by the United

National Party (UNP) government, carried out the
arson. They arrived by truck in the dead of the night
of May 31, 1981 and set fire to the library buildings
The individuals belonging to the younger
generation, often referred to by other Tamils as "the
boys" formed many militant organizations. The most
important contributor to the strength of the militant
groups was the Black July pogrom, in which between
1,000 to
3,000 Sri Lankan Tamils were killed,
prompting many youths to choose the path of
armed resistance

This led to form movement which is later

Their first major operation was the assassination of
the mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah in 1975.
Initially the LTTE gained prominence due to
devastating attacks such as the
massacre of civilians at the Kent and Dollar Farms in
1984 and the
Anuradhapura massacre of 146 civilians in 1985.
In July 1987, the LTTE carried out their first suicide
attack: "Captain Miller" of the Black Tigers drove a
small truck with explosives through the wall of a
fortified Sri Lankan army camp, reportedly killing
forty soldiers.
From may 2008 LTTE starts losing its
states to Srilankan Army one by one till
date.
On February 5, 2009 the military
captured the last Sea Tiger Base in
Chalai, reducing the territory under
rebels' control to less than some 200
sq. km.
Over 2,00,000 tamils were in this area.
They are struggling.
The fighting has driven more than 800,000
Tamils from their homes to other places within
Sri Lanka as internally displaced persons and
also overseas, prompting the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) to identify them in 2004 as the
largest asylum-seeking group.
The country with the largest share of
displaced Tamils is Canada, with more than
200,000 legal residents, found mostly within
the Greater Toronto Area
India has provided refuge to over 100,000 in
special camps and another 50,000 outside of
Many Tamil leaders all over expected the ceasefire
to save the tamils.

London: The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown,

names former defence secretary, Mr. Des Browne
to be an envoy for Sri Lanka yesterday to try to
ease hardship caused by the country's long-
running civil war and to help in the search for a
political solution.
The Indian President Mrs.Prathiba Patil urged the
srilankan govt. to stop the war immediately and
solve thro’ political solution in her speech at
parliament yesterday.
So the ceasefire can come at any time.