Tamil Eelam is the name given to a separate Tamil state for which rebels in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka are fighting.

Overview

The concept of Eelam, a Tamil homeland in the Sri Lankan island, was proposed by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in 1976. TULF was a coalition of Tamil parties who campaigned in the 1977 elections for an independent state for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

In the 1977 elections, the Tamil United Liberation Front was elected to Sri Lankan parliament from the northern and eastern provinces. TULF members from parliament however did not take the oath of allegiance to Sri Lankan state and as a result of this as per the constitution of Sri Lanka it lost its seats in the parliament.

From 1948 to 2002, there have been approximately 38 militant groups who have fought with the Sri Lankan Army for a separate country in Sri Lanka's northern and eastern provinces. This includes groups such as the LTTE - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, (Tamil Tigers),'TELO - Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization, EPRLF - Eelam Peoples' Revolutionary Liberation Front, PLOTE - People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam, EROS - Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students, and also lesser know groups such as TEA - Tamil Eelam Army, FTA - Ilankai Freedom Tamil Army, SRSL - Socialist Revolutionary Social Liberation..

Under the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord signed in July 1987, militants agreed to accept a provincial council system and surrendered their weapons to the Sri Lankan Army. However after several weeks LTTE recommenced attacks on the state and subsequently assassinated Indian Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President late Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Today the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is a banned terrorist organization in the United States and several other countries in the world.

External Links

• The Struggle for Tamil Eealm- A Comprehensive Record
• Articles on Sri Lankan Ethnic Conflict
• News Coverage of Terrorism in Sri Lanka
• Information on LTTE from a U.S. Department of State publication
• A perhaps "official" LTTE website
• Interpol warrant on LTTE Leader V. Prabhakaran
• Tigers go back to Indo-Lanka accord for federal state
• The Tamil National Struggle & the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord
• Conference Aims & Programme Tamil National Struggle & Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord
• Muslims have a Case in Sri Lanka
• Indo-Sri Lanka trade: Hype and reality
• SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY Chapter 35: Accord turns to discord
• THE INDO-SRI LANKA ACCORD
• PEACE PROCESS IN SRI LANKA --- WITH AND WITHOUT MEDIATION
• ETHNIC PEACE ACCORDS AND ETHNIC CONFLICT RESOLUTION: A SURVEY
• India holds the key to peace in Lanka?
• The devolution drift
• Love, War and Mystery: A Sri Lanka Diary
• Dr. PC Alexander, former Principal Secretary of Rajiv Gandhi - bares it all on the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987
• "Peace for all with equal rights"Minister
• Indo-Lanka Accord
• New Delhi & the Struggle for Tamil Eelam]
• Reporting to the world on Tamil Affairs
• A REPORT ON THE INTERVENTION BY THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA IN THE CIVIL WAR IN THE ISLAND OF CEYLON
• Wickremesinghe Apprises I K Gujral of Stalled Peace Process in Sri Lanka
• Tiger Rebels are either black or white but not both
• SLFP to discuss peace process with Indian leaders
• PEACE PROCESS IN SRI-LANKA
• TIGERS, 'MODERATES' AND PANDORA'S PACKAGE
• The road ahead
• IPKF Jaffna Hospital massacre remembered
• Tamil Canadian News
• When guns cease to fire
• India Holds The Key To Peace In Lanka?
• CONFLICT RESOLUTION TAMIL EELAM - SRI LANKA
• A massive mandate for peace
• No military solution to strife in Lanka: Experts
• LTTE to take Indo-Lankan accord in peace bid