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The Sri Lankan state has been accused of state terrorism against the Tamil minority as well as the Sinhalese majority, during the two Marxist–Leninist insurrections. The Sri Lankan government and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces have been charged with massacres, indiscriminate shelling and bombing, extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, disappearance, arbitrary detention, forced displacement and economic blockade. According to Amnesty International, state terror was institutionalized into Sri Lanka's laws, government and society.

History

20th century

Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain in 1948 as the Dominion of Ceylon, although the British Royal Navy retained a base there until 1956. In 1972, the country became a republic, adopting the name Sri Lanka. Since this time, the country has experienced several armed conflicts– a civil war, two Marxist uprisings, and other terrorist incidents.

Marxist-Leninist insurrections

From 1985 to 1989, Sri Lanka responded to violent insurrection with equal violence against the Sinhalese majority as part of the counterinsurgency measures against the uprising by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party. In order to subdue support of the JVP uprising, several acts of cruelty committed by the state were recorded, including the torture and mass murder of school children. This repression peaked amongst the Sinhalese population between 1989–90. Approximately 90,000 casualties occurred during between 1971 and 1990, most of whom were Sinhalese male youths.

Civil war

The Sri Lankan Civil War lasted from 1983 to 2009. In 1986, an American-Tamil social anthropologist at Harvard University stated that acts of terrorism had been committed by all sides during the war, but although all parties in the conflict had resorted to the use of these tactics, in terms of scale, duration, and sheer numbers of victims, the Sri Lankan state was particularly culpable. This was echoed by the Secretary of the Movement for Development and Democratic Rights, a non-governmental organisation, which further claimed that the Sri Lankan state viewed killing as an essential political tool. This had originally prompted the demand for a separate state for minority Tamils called Tamil Eelam in the north of the country, an idea first articulated by S.J.V. Chelvanayagam in 1976.

Assaults on Tamils for ethnic reasons have been alleged, and the experience of state terrorism by the people of Jaffna has been alleged to have been instrumental in persuading the United National Party to increase their hostilities there.

Chandrika Kumaratunga was the President of Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2005. In an interview with the British television presenter and news critic David Frost, she stated that at the time that her husband Vijaya Kumaranatunga was assassinated, "Sri Lanka had a killing fields, there was a lot of terror perpetrated by the government itself, state terrorism." This statement has been supported by a report released by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong and associated with the United Nations, which has also claimed that there was widespread terrorism committed by the state during this period.

21st century

Following the collapse of peace talks in 2006, human rights agencies such as the Asian Center of Human Rights (ACHR), the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR), and pro-LTTE political parties such as the Tamil National Alliance claimed that the government of Sri Lanka had unleashed state terrorism as part of its counterinsurgency measures against the rebel LTTE movement. The Sri Lankan government responded by claiming that these allegations by the LTTE were an attempt by the LTTE to justify their own acts of terrorism.

The ACHR has also stated that following the collapse of the Geneva talks of February 2006, the government of Sri Lanka perpetrated a campaign of state terrorism by targeting alleged LTTE sympathizers and Tamil civilians. A spokesman for Human Rights Watch was of the opinion that "the Sri Lankan government has apparently given its security forces a green light to use dirty war tactics." International intervention in Sri Lanka was requested by Tamil sources to protect civilians from state terrorism.

State terrorist groups

The Sri Lankan government has been accused of the usage state-sponsored paramilitaries to commit war crimes. Many of these groups were created at the height of the second JVP uprising. During the civil war, one of the major state-sponsored paramilitaries was the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, led by Karuna Amman.

Anti-separatist paramilitaries

• Eelam People's Democratic Party – Led by former leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, Douglas Devananda
• Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal – A highly controversial organization which defected from the LTTE in 2004, led by Karuna Amman, former LTTE commander of the Eastern Province.

Anti-communist paramilitaries

• Eagles of the Central Hills – Formerly active in Kandy. Responsible for the massacre of suspected JVP rebels in 1989. Also responsible for killings of workers at Peradeniya University.
• Black Cat group – Responsible for attacks on politicians and civilians. The group would threaten members of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka throughout the late 1980s.

See also

• State sponsored terrorism

Notes

1. ^ Bandarage, Asoka (2009). The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Terrorism, Ethnicity, Political Economy. Routledge. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-415-77678-3.
2. Hughes, Dhana (31 July 2013). Violence, Torture and Memory in Sri Lanka: Life After Terror. Routledge. p. 109. ISBN 978-1135038151.
3. Mukarji, Apratim (2005). Sri Lanka: A Dangerous Interlude. New Dawn Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-1845575304.
4. Grant, Trevor (2014). Sri Lanka's Secrets: How the Rajapaksa Regime Gets Away with Murder. Monash University Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 978-1922235534.
5. Gunaratna, R. (1990). Sri Lanka, a Lost Revolution?: The Inside Story of the JVP. Institute of fundamental studies.
6. ^ Somasundaram, Daya (2012). "Short and Long Term Effects on the Victims of Terror in Sri Lanka". In Danieli, Yael; Brom, Danny; Sills, Joe (eds.). The Trauma of Terrorism: Sharing Knowledge and Shared Care, An International Handbook. Routledge. p. 216. ISBN 978-1136747045.
7. Kleinfeld, Margo (2004). "Strategic Trooping in Sri Lanka: September Eleventh and the Consolidation of Political Position". In Brunn, Stanley D. (ed.). 11 September and Its Aftermath: The Geopolitics of Terror. Routledge. p. 106. ISBN 978-1135756024.
8. Dwivedi, Manan (2009). South Asia Security. Kalpaz Publications. p. 170. ISBN 978-81-7835-759-1.
9. Gananath Obeyesekere, Narratives of the self: Chevalier Peter Dillon's Fijian cannibal adventures, in Barbara Creed, Jeanette Hoorn, Body Taade: captivity, cannibalism and colonialism in the Pacific, Routledge, 2001, p. 100. ISBN 0-415-93884-8. "The 'time of dread' was roughly 1985-89, when ethnic Sinhala youth took over vast areas of the country and practiced enormous atrocities; they were only eliminated by equally dreadful state terrorism." Gananath Obeyesekere
10. ^ Ishtiaq Ahmed, State, Nation, and Ethnicity in Contemporary South Asia, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1996, p. 55. ISBN 1-85567-578-1.
11. "JVP: Lessons for the Genuine Left". Imayavaramban. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2008.
12. Handelman, Don (2006). The Manchester School: Practice and Ethnographic Praxis in Anthropology. Berghahn Books. p. 142.
13. Tambiah, Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy, p 116. Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah
14. ^ Hattotuwa, From violence to peace: Terrorism and Human Rights in Sri Lanka, pp 11–13
15. Danieli, Yael, Brom, D and Sills, Joe. The trauma of terrorism: sharing knowledge and shared care, p 216
16. Somasundaram, D. (2002). "Child soldiers: Understanding the context" (PDF). Daya Somasundaram. 324 (7348): 1268–1271. doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7348.1268. PMC 1123221. PMID 12028985. Retrieved 17 January 2008.
17. ACHR, Sri Lanka: Disappearances and the Collapse of the Police System,ACHR, pp 34–42
18. Kumar Rupesinghe, Ethnic Conflict in South Asia: The Case of Sri Lanka and the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF), pp.337
19. "Sri Lanka: testimony to state terror". Race & Class. 26 (4). Institute of Race Relations: 71–84. 1985. doi:10.1177/030639688502600405. S2CID 220917010.
20. "S.J.V.Chelvanayagam Q.C". Tamil Nation. Tamil Nation. 15 November 2006. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
21. W. A. Wiswa Warnapala, L. Dias Hewagama, Recent Politics in Sri Lanka: The Presidential Election and the Referendum, Navrang (Original from the University of Michigan), 1983, p. 29. ASIN: B000II886W.
22. "BBC Breakfast with Frost Interview: President Chandrika Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka". David Frost. 28 October 2001. Retrieved 17 January 2008.
23. "Tell the truth or you will be killed". Archived from the original on 15 November 2004. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
24. "Sri Lanka: Terror Vs State Terror". Archived from the original on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
25. University Teachers for Human Rights Archived 13 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, UTHR, 28 October 2001.
26. "Claims of state terror and genocide by LTTE attempts at justifying terrorism". Retrieved 11 August 2007.
27. "Claims of state terror and genocide by LTTE attempts at justifying terrorism". Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
28. "Sri Lanka: Terror Vs State Terror". ACHR Weekly Review. Asian Human Rights Commission. 15 November 2006. Archived from the original on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2007.
29. "Sri Lanka: Government Abuses Intensify". Human Rights Watch. Archived from the original on 9 November 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2008. Quotation by Brad Adams, Asia Director.
30. "Tamils 'entitled to' international help". BBC. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
31. "Sri Lanka Trauma: International Community Revisits its Response". V S Subramaniam. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2008.
32. CartoonistsRights. Sri Lanka Archived September 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

References

• Alagappa, Muthiah (2003). Asian Security Order: Instrumental and Normative Features. Stanford University Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-8047-4629-8.
• Danieli, Yael; Brom, D; Sills, Joe (1989). The Trauma Of Terrorism: Sharing Knowledge and Shared Care. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1211-9.
• Hattotuwa, Sanjana (2003). "From violence to peace: Terrorism and Human Rights in Sri Lanka". The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution. 5 (1): 14. 1522-211X.
• Hayner, Priscill (2009). The Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-92477-1.
• Lutz, James M; Brenda J Lutz (2004). Global Terrorism. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-70050-4.
• Ponnambalam, Satchi (1983). The National Question and the Tamil Liberation Struggle. Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 978-0-86232-198-7.
• Rupesinghe, Kumar (1988). "Ethnic Conflict in South Asia: The Case of Sri Lanka and the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF)". Journal of Peace Research. 25 (4): 337–350. doi:10.1177/002234338802500402. S2CID 110681740.
• Tambiah, Stanley James (1991). Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy. Chicago University Press. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-226-78952-1.
• Asian Center for Human Rights (1991). Sri Lanka: Disappearances and the Collapse of the Police System. ACHR. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-226-78952-1.
• "World Marxist Review". World Marxist Review: Problems of Peace and Socialism. Central Books. 2007 . ISSN 0512-3305.

Further reading

• Gunasingam, Murugar (1999). Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism. Sydney: MV. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-646-38106-0.
• Myrdal, Gunnar (1968). Asian Drama: an Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations. Pantheon. ASIN B000E80DGO.
• Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (1989). The Break up of Sri Lanka: the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1211-9.

External links

• Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished

v t e Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009)
Origins	Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism Sinhala Only Act 1956 1958 Vaddukoddai Resolution 1977 1981 Burning of Jaffna Library Black July
Combatants	Sri Lanka Army (LRRP) Navy Air Force Police Special Task Force Home Guards Attacks on civilians Assassinations LTTE Divisions Air Tigers Sea Tigers Black Tigers Attacks in the 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Assassinations Suicide bombings Other militants (list) ENDLF ENLF EPRLF EROS PLOTE TELO  India Indian Peace Keeping Force Paramilitary groups EPDP TMVP
Phases	Eelam War I Indian intervention Eelam War II III IV Eastern / Northern theatres
Major battles	Kokkilai Vadamarachchi Poomalai Pawan Jaffna University Helidrop Balavegaya 1st Elephant Pass Pooneryn Riviresa 1st Mullaitivu Weli Oya Sath Jaya Vavunathivu Jayasikurui Thandikulam–Omanthai 1st Kilinochchi Oddusuddan A-9 highway 2nd Elephant Pass Bandaranaike Airport attack Point Pedro Jaffna Thoppigala Vidattaltivu 2nd Kilinochchi 2nd Mullaitivu Puthukkudiyirippu
Major events	Air Lanka Flight 512 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Expulsions from Northern province Assassination of Lalith Athulathmudali Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi Assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa Temple of the Tooth attack Lionair Flight 602 Bandaranaike Airport attack Expulsions from Colombo 2009 suicide air raid on Colombo
Leaders	Sri Lanka Military Army Tissa Weeratunga Nalin Seneviratne Hamilton Wanasinghe Cecil Waidyaratne G. H. De Silva Rohan Daluwatte Srilal Weerasooriya L. P. Balagalle Shantha Kottegoda Sarath Fonseka Navy Asoka de Silva H. A. Silva Clancy Fernando D. A. M. R. Samarasekara H. C. A. C. Thisera Daya Sandagiri Wasantha Karannagoda Air Force Dick Perera Andibuduge Fernando Makalandage Gunawardena Oliver Ranasinghe Jayalath Weerakkody Donald Perera Roshan Goonetileke Civilian J. R. Jayewardene Ranasinghe Premadasa Dingiri Banda Wijetunga Chandrika Kumaratunga Mahinda Rajapaksa LTTE Militant Velupillai Prabhakaran Pottu Amman Soosai Karuna Amman Political Selvarasa Pathmanathan Anton Balasingham S. P. Thamilselvan India Military Harkirat Singh Ashok K. Mehta Kulwant Singh Depinder Singh Dalvir Singh Krishnaswamy Sundarji Civilian R. Venkataraman Rajiv Gandhi V. P. Singh Jyotindra Nath Dixit J. Jayalalithaa M. Karunanidhi Vaiko
Aftermath	Genocide Films NPC resolution LLRC Reactions (Protests) Remembrance Day UN Panel on Accountability War crimes Chemical weapons
Related topics	Casualties Assassinations Massacres Child soldiers Disappearances Office on Missing Persons Human rights Popular culture Terrorism Non-state State PTA Sexual violence Sixth Amendment Thirteenth Amendment 1988 Maldives coup attempt 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
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v t e Terrorism
Main articles	Definition Economics History Sociology Symbolism Social media
Counterterrorism	Anti-terrorism legislation International conventions War on Terror
By ideology	Communist Green Ethnic violence Palestinian Zionist Left-wing Misogynist Narcoterrorism Nationalist Religious Christian Hindu Islamic Jewish Revolutionary Right-wing
Types and tactics	Agro-terrorism Aircraft hijacking Bioterrorism Car bombing Cyber Domestic Economic Environmental Nuclear Piracy Propaganda of the deed Proxy bomb Stabbing Suicide attack Palestinian
State involvement	State terrorism State-sponsored terrorism
Organisation	Clandestine cell system Financing Front Lone wolf Training camp
Lists	Charities accused of ties to terrorism Designated terrorist organizations Incidents Islamist terrorist attacks
Memorials and museums	House of Terror Topography of Terror Victims of Acts of Terror Memorial
By country	Argentina Dirty War denial Iran sponsored Israel sponsored Kuwait sponsored Libya sponsored Pakistan sponsored Palestine Qatar sponsored Russia Sri Lanka state United States domestic sponsored state Venezuela sponsored
Historical	French Revolution Reign of Terror (1792/1793–1794) First White Terror (1795) Second White Terror (1815) Soviet Russia White Terror (1917–1922) Red Terror (1918–1922) Soviet state-sponsored terrorism

• Political repression
• Sri Lankan Tamil history
• Sri Lanka and state terrorism
• Sri Lankan civil war
• Causes of the Aragalaya
• Ethnic cleansing
• Politicides
• Anti-communism
• Terrorism