Event
The Sri Lankan civil war, 1983 to 2009
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Details
- Period
- The conflict between the Sri Lankan state and Tamil armed groups, chiefly the LTTE, which the cited sources describe as a 26-year war ending in May 2009
Connections (4)
- Black July, 1983 / Seen by its authors as setting the stage for / The Sri Lankan civil war, 1983 to 2009
- In an opinion piece by two authors from People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, who say the views are their own, Sinhalese mobs are said to have killed Tamils, destroyed Tamil businesses and displaced tens of thousands in July 1983. They argue the state’s Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist foundations, reinforced after Black July, set the stage for the 30-year armed conflict. Government figures put the Tamil dead at several hundred; activists argue the evidence points to thousands.29 Jul 2023 · Al Jazeera · For Sri Lankan Tamils, the Black July pogroms live on, 40 years later
- Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Colonel Karuna Amman) / Forces implicated, per Human Rights Watch, in wartime killings / The Sri Lankan civil war, 1983 to 2009Allegation
- Human Rights Watch says forces under his command were implicated in the summary execution of several hundred police officers in June 1990 after they surrendered, and allegedly killed more than 200 civilians in Batticaloa district that August. It says he has never been held accountable; the authorities ordered an investigation in 2020 after he boasted of killing soldiers. The article carries no response from him.23 Jun 2020 · Human Rights Watch · Sri Lanka Investigates Rebel Leader Turned Politician
- Jaffna Monitor reported on 6 October 2026 that the CID questioned him for over four hours in an abduction inquiry, without saying which case; in December 2024 he was questioned over the 2006 disappearance of the Eastern University vice chancellor. It also reports that Britain imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on him and three former military commanders in March 2025 over alleged serious human rights violations during the war.6 Oct 2026 · Jaffna Monitor · Karuna Amman Questioned for More Than Four Hours in Abduction Inquiry
- UN Panel of Experts report, 25 April 2011 / Concerned the final phases of / The Sri Lankan civil war, 1983 to 2009
- UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka, October 2015 / Acknowledged that terrible crimes were committed in / The Sri Lankan civil war, 1983 to 2009