Word: tamil
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...moment of anger and frustration for Vellupillai Prabakaran, leader of Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas. Speaking before some 70,000 members of the country's Tamil minority on the grounds of a Hindu temple in the Jaffna peninsula, the rebel leader promised that his 3,500 followers would hand over their arms to Indian peacekeeping forces that had started streaming into the north and east of the country five days earlier. The vast assembly cheered in approval, barely listening as Prabakaran added bitterly, "We do not accept this accord. But, because India is a powerful country...
Though Jayewardene eased those laws in 1977, hard feelings lingered. Tamil resentment erupted into sporadic violence. In July 1983 one of those incidents catapulted the country into war: after Tamil terrorists ambushed and killed 13 Sri Lankan soldiers, enraged Sinhalese stampeded through Colombo and killed at least 600 Tamils...
...rebels, dominated by the 3,500-man Tigers, demand a unified, independent state of "Eelam" (homeland) for Tamils in the island's northern and eastern provinces. Outnumbered by the Sri Lankan military and poorly armed, the insurgents would not have gone far without assistance from India. Just 22 miles across the Palk Strait from northern Sri Lanka lies India's Tamil Nadu state, where the rebels maintain training camps. Despite this support, New Delhi did not endorse the Tigers' demand for independence, insisting instead that Colombo grant the Tamil regions local rule...
Jayewardene refused, but in recent months he became convinced that India was determined to stop Colombo's efforts to defeat the Tamil rebels. In June secret talks began through diplomatic intermediaries. Colombo agreed to Tamil self-rule, while India acceded to Jayewardene's request that it impose the settlement on the rebels -- by force if need be. Asked at a news conference last week why he had not made those concessions before, Jayewardene drew gasps when he replied, "Lack of courage on my part, lack of intelligence on my part, lack of foresight on my part...
...heart of the agreement is Colombo's promise to create a single, locally ruled Tamil province in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. By the end of the year, residents of the new region would elect a governor, chief minister and a cabinet. Since Tamils make up 92% of the northern area's residents but only 40% in the eastern region, easterners would decide by referendum next year whether to remain in the unified province. That provision is unacceptable to the Tamils, who fear that the easterners will pull...