Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In 1987 the JVP launched a second revolution with political murders and strikes, and by
late 1988 the country was terrorised, the economy crippled and the government paralysed.
The army struck back with a ruthless counter-insurgency campaign. The insurrection was
put down, but not before tens of thousands died.
By the time the Indian peacekeepers withdrew, in March 1990, they had lost more than
1000 lives in just three years. But no sooner had they left than the war between the LTTE
and the Sri Lankan government escalated again. By the end of 1990 the LTTE held Jaffna
and much of the North, although the East was largely back under government control. In
May 1991 Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber; it was blamed on the
LTTE, presumably in retaliation for consenting to the IPKF arrangement.
At least one million land mines were laid during Sri Lankan hostilities in the 1990s. Efforts
to clear the mines have meant that thousands of displaced people have been resettled.
The 2002 Ceasefire
Although most Tamils and Sinhalese longed for peace, extremists on both sides pressed on
with war. President Premadasa was assassinated at a May Day rally in 1993. The LTTE
was suspected but never claimed responsibility. The following year, the People's Alliance
(PA) won the parliamentary elections; its leader, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga,
the daughter of former leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike, won the presidential election. The
PA had promised to end the civil war, but the conflict continued in earnest.
In 2000 a Norwegian peace mission brought the LTTE and the government to the nego-
tiating table, but a ceasefire had to wait until after the December 2001 elections, which
handed power to the UNP. Ranil Wickremasinghe became prime minister, and economic
growth was strong while peace talks appeared to progress. Wickremasinghe and President
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, however, were from different parties, and circled
each other warily until 2003, when Kumaratunga dissolved parliament and essentially ous-
ted Wickremasinghe and his UNP.
In 2002, following the Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement, a careful optimism
reigned. In the North, refugees, internally displaced persons and long-absent émigrés
began to return, bringing an economic boost to devastated Jaffna. Nongovernmental organ-
isations started tackling, among other things, an estimated two million land mines.
