Indo-Sri Lanka Accord

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Background

Origins of the Civil War

• Origins of the Civil War
• Black July • Human Rights Issues • Riots and pogroms
• Attributed State terrorism
• Prison massacres
• Tamil militant groups

LTTE

• LTTE • Attributed Terrorist attacks • Child Soldiers
• Attributed assasinations
• Notable Attacks • Expulsion of Muslims from Jaffna

Major figures

• Mahinda Rajapakse
• Velupillai Prabhakaran
• Karuna Amman
• Sarath Fonseka

Indian Involvement

• Operation Poomalai
• Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
• Indian Peace Keeping Force
• Rajiv Gandhi • RAW

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The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on July 29, 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the ongoing Sri Lankan civil war. Under the terms of the agreement,^[1]^[2] Colombo agreed to a devolution of power to the provinces the Sri Lankan troops were withdraw to their barracks in the north, the Tamil rebels were to disarm.^[3]^[4]

Importantly however,the Tamil groups, notably the LTTE (which at the time was one of the strongest Tamil force) had not been made party to the talks and initially agreed to surrender their arms to the IPKF only reluctantly. Within afew months however, this flared into an active confrontation. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) declared their intent to continue the armed struggle for an independent Tamil Eelam and refused to disarm. The Indian Peace-Keeping Force found itself engaged in a bloody police action against the LTTE. Further complicating the return to peace was a burgeoning Sinhalese insurgency in the south.

1 Sri Lankan Civil War
2 The Peace Accord
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Sri Lankan Civil War

Main article: Sri Lankan Civil War

Sri Lanka, from the early part of the 1980s, was facing an increasingly violent ethnic strife. The origins of this conflict can be traced to the independence of the island from Britain in 1948 . At the time, a Sinhala majority government was instituted which passed legislation that were deemed discriminatory against the substantial Tamil minority population. In the 1970s, two major Tamil parties united to form the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) that started agitation for a separate state of Tamil Eelam within the system in a federal structure in the north and eastern Sri Lanka^[5] that would grant the Tamils greater autonomy. However, enactment of the sixth amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution in August 1983 classified all separatist movements as unconstitutional,^[6] effectively rendering the TULF ineffective.^[6] Outside the TULF, however, factions advocating more radical and militant courses of action soon emerged, and the ethnic divisions started flaring into a violent civil war.^[5]

[edit] Indian Involvement

See also: Operation Poomalai

India had, intially under Indira Gandhi^[7]^[8]and later under Rajiv Gandhi, provided support to Tamil interests from the very conception of the secessionist movement. This included providing sanctuary to the separatists, as well as support the operations training camps for Tamil guerrillas in Tamil Nadu^[9] of which the LTTE emerged as the strongest force. This was both as a result of a large Tamil community in South India, as well as India's Regional security and interests which attempted to reduce the scope foreign intervention, especially those linked to the United States, Pakistan, and China.^[9] To this end, the Indira Gandhi Government sought to make it clear to the Sri Lankan President, Jayewardene that armed intervention in support of the Tamil movement was an option India would consider if any diplomatic solutions should fail.^[9] Following the anti-Tamil riots, the Tamil rebel movement grew proggressively strong and increasingly violent. However,after Indira Gandhi's assassination, the Indian support for the millitant movement decreased. However, the succeeding Rajiv Gandhi government attempted to re-establish friendly relations with its neighbours. It still however maintained diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the conflict as well as maintaining covert aid to the Tamil rebels.^[9]

[edit] Operation Liberation

From 1985 however, the Sri-Lankan Government started rearming itself extensively for its anti-insuregent role with support from Pakistan,Israel,Singapore and South Africa.^[9]^[10] In 1986, the campaign against the insurgency was stepped up and in 1987, retaliating an increasingly bloody insurgent movement, Operation Liberation was launched against LTTE strongholds in Jaffna Peninsula, involving nearly four thousand troops, supported by helicopter gunships as well as Ground attack aircrafts.^[9] In June 1987, the Sri Lankan Army laid siege on the town of Jaffna.^[11] As civilian casualties grew^[12]^[13], calls grew within India to intervene in what was increasingly seen in the Indian (and Tamil)Media as a developing humanitarian crisis, especially with reports use of aerial support against rebel positions in civillian areas^[14]^[13]. India, which had a substantial Tamil population in South India faced the prospect of a Tamil backlash at home, called on the Sri Lankan government to halt the offensive in an attempt to negotiate a political settlement.

[edit] Operation Poomalai

However, the Indian efforts were futile.Added to this, in the growing involvement of Pakistani and Isreali advisors, it was necessary for Indian interest to mount a show of force.^[9] Failing to negotiate an end to the crisis with Sri Lanka, India announced on 2 June 1987 that it wound send a convoy of unarmed ships to northern Sri Lanka to provide humanitarian assistance^[15]but this was intercepted by the Srilankan Navy and turned back.^[16]

Following the failure of the naval mission, the decision was made– the decision was made by the Indian Government to mount an airdrop of relief supplies in support of rebel forces over the besieged city of Jaffna. On 4 June 1987, in a blatant Show of force, the Indian Air Force mounted Operation Poomalai in broad daylight. Five An-32s under fighter cover flew over Jaffna to airdrop 25 tons of supplies, all the time keeping well within the range of Sri Lanan radar coverage. At the same time the Sri Lankan Ambassador to New Delhi was summoned to the Foreign Office to be informed by the Minister External Affairs, K. Natwar Singh, of the ongoing operation and also indicated that the operation was expected not to be hindered by the Sri Lankan Air Force. The ultimate aim of the operation was both to demonstrate the credibility of the Indian option of active intervention to the Sri Lankan Government, as a sympbolic act of support for the Tamil Rebels, as well to preserve Rajiv Gandhi's credibillity.^[17]

Faced with the possibility of an active Indian intervention and facing an increasingly war-wary population at home^[18], the Sri Lankan President, J. R. Jayewardene, offered to hold talks with the Rajiv Gandhi government on future moves.^[11] The siege of Jaffna was soon lifted, followed by a round of negotiations that led to the signing of the Indo-Sri-Lankan accord on July 29, 1987^[19] that brought a temporary truce. The terms of the truce specified that the Sri Lankan troops withdraw from the north and the Tamil rebels disarm,^[3] and saw the induction of the IPKF as a peace keeping force in Sri Lanka.

[edit] The Peace Accord

Among the salient points of the agreement,^[4] the Sri Lankan Government made a number of concessions to Tamil demands, which included^[1]^[2] Colombo devolution of power to the provinces, merger (subject to later referendum) of the northern and eastern provinces, and official status for the Tamil language.^[4] More immediately, Operation Liberation— the anti-insurgent operation by Sri Lankan forces in the Northern peninsula— was termin. Sri Lankan troops were to withdraw to their barracks in the north, the Tamil rebels were to disarm.^[3] India agreed to end support for the Tamil sepratist movement and recognise the unity of Sri Lanka.^[4] The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord also underligned the commitment of Indian military assistance on which the Indian Peace Keeping Force came to be inducted into Sri Lanka.

In 1990, India withdrew the last of its forces from Sri Lanka, and fighting between the LTTE and the government resumed. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and government forces committed serious human rights violations against one another.

In January 1995, the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam agreed to a cease fire as a preliminary step in a government-initiated plan for peace negotiations. After 3 months, however, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam unilaterally resumed hostilities.

The government of Sri Lanka then adopted a policy of military engagement with the Tigers, with government forces liberating Jaffna from LTTE control by mid-1996 and moving against LTTE positions in the northern part of the country called the Vanni. An LTTE counteroffensive, begun in October 1999, reversed most government gains; and by May 2000, threatened government forces in Jaffna. Heavy fighting continued into 2001.