TAMILS in Sri Lanka have long complained of discrimination from the majority Sinhalese. After independence in 1948, the complaints seemed to get validity after the Sri Lankan government adopted a number of measures, including disenfranchisement of Indian-origin Tamils and the passage of the ‘Sinhala Only Act of 1956’, besides alleged denial of education opportunities to Tamils. Several anti-Tamil riots contributed to the exacerbation of an age-old conflict between the two communities.Two major political agreements with Tamil leaders were abrogated by the government following pressure from Sinhalese chauvinists. When the 1972 Republican Constitution was adopted, Tamils were disappointed that it retained the Sinhala-Buddhist character of the state.The disillusionment culminated in the passage of the historic resolution at Vaddukottai in Jaffna by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), calling for the establishment of a separate state. The TULF contested the 1977 Parliamentary election in the country with the Vaddukottai resolution as its main electoral plank.Tamils see the overwhelming victory of the TULF in the northeast as endorsement of this resolution; this forms the basis for their demand for Tamil Eelam, a separate homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka.A number of militant groups emerged in the 1970s to launch an armed struggle against the Sri Lankan government. The LTTE was one of them. Called the Tamil National Tigers in 1975, its name was changed to the LTTE by V Prabhakaran.The Eelam cause became a full-fledged armed struggle in 1983 after the anti-Tamil riots that year in Colombo. Hundreds of Tamils were killed in the riots and their property destroyed, triggering the first major refugee exodus. About 2,00,000 Tamils fled crisis-torn Sri Lanka that year. Between 1988-89, as many as 40,000 refugees returned to their homes. During the second half of 1990, 1.25 lakh refugees came back to India when fighting restarted after the Indian Peace Keeping Force left Sri Lanka. Again during 1992-95, 50,000 refugees returned to Sri Lanka. After 1995, 17,000 refugees came back to India after escalation in conflict between Tiger rebels and Lankan armed forces.Jaya Menon
