Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front ஈழமக்கள் புரட்சிகர விடுதலை முன்னணி ඊලාම් ජනතා විප්ලවවාදී විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ | |
---|---|
Secretary | Suresh Premachandran (Suresh wing) T. Sritharan (Padmanaba wing) |
Founder | K. Pathmanabha Varatharajah Perumal |
Founded | 1980 |
Split from | EROS |
Headquarters | 85/9 Pokuna Road, Hendala, Wattala (Suresh wing) 15C Summit Flats, Keppetipola Mawatha, Colombo 07 (Padmanaba wing) |
Ideology | Tamil nationalism Secularism |
Political position | Centre-left |
National affiliation | TPNA (Suresh wing) Democratic Tamil National Alliance (Padmanaba wing) |
Election symbol | |
Flower (Suresh wing) Candle (Padmanaba wing) | |
Website | |
eprlfnet.com (Padmanaba wing) | |
The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) is a series of Sri Lankan political parties and a former militant separatist group. [1]
The EPRLF was formed in 1980 by K. Pathmanabha (Padmanaba), Douglas Devananda, Suresh Premachandran and Varatharajah Perumal as a breakaway faction of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students. [2]
In 1982 the EPRLF formed a military wing, People's Liberation Army, headed by Douglas Devananda. The PLA is believed to have received military training by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
In early 1986 disputes amongst the EPRLF leadership led to it splitting into two factions: EPRLF (Ranjan) and EPRLF (Douglas).
In late 1986 the Tamil Tigers attacked the EPRLF, inflicting heavy losses. [3] Many of its cadres were killed or taken prisoner and its camps and weapons were seized by the Tigers. Douglas Devananda was blamed for the debacle.
In 1987 the EPRLF (Douglas) faction formally split from the EPRLF. It initially formed the Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front with a breakaway faction of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam led by Paranthan Rajan, but later transformed itself into the Eelam People's Democratic Party. [4]
After its military defeat by the Tamil Tigers the EPRLF transformed itself into political party and allied itself with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) who were occupying much of Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka.
The EPRLF's first foray into politics came in the flawed 1988 provincial council elections. With the assistance of IPKF the EPRLF secured 41 of the 71 seats on the North Eastern Provincial Council. [5] On 10 December 1988 Varatharajah Perumal became the first Chief Minister of the North Eastern Provincial Council. [6]
The EPRLF formed an alliance with the Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization and Tamil United Liberation Front to contest the 1989 parliamentary elections. The alliance won 188,593 votes (3.40%), securing 10 of the 225 seats in Parliament. 7 of the 10 alliance MPs were from the EPRLF.
On 1 March 1990, just as the IPKF were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Varatharajah Permual moved a motion in the North Eastern Provincial Council declaring an independent Eelam. [7] President Premadasa reacted to Permual's UDI by dissolving the provincial council and imposing direct rule on the province. The EPRLF's leadership fled to Madras (now Chennai), India. [8]
On 19 June 1990 the Tamil Tigers attacked an EPRLF meeting in Madras, murdering thirteen EPRLF members including leader K. Padmanaba, Jaffna District MP G. Yogasangari and former North Eastern Province Finance Minister P. Kirubakaran. [9]
In 1997, after the Sri Lankan military had recaptured the Jaffna peninsula from the Tamil Tigers, the EPRLF re-opened its Jaffna office. [10] It took part in the 1998 local elections held in the peninsula and was able to win 13,140 votes (14.35%), winning 25 seats across 11 local councils. [11]
The party broke into two factions in 1999 when its General Secretary Kandaiah "Suresh" Premachandran made a deal with the Tamil Tigers. [10] The majority of the party formed the EPRLF (Varathar) wing under the leadership of Varatharajah Perumal whilst the rest formed the EPRLF (Suresh) wing under the leadership of Suresh Premachandran. [12] Crucially Suresh had control of most of the EPRLF's assets as well as its name (as registered with the Sri Lankan Department of Elections). [10]
The Suresh wing joined other pro-Tamil Tiger parties in 2001 to form the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
In the first parliamentary election contested by the Tamil National Alliance, the 5 December 2001 election, the TNA led by Rajavarothiam Sampanthan won 3.88% of the popular vote and 15 out of 225 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament.
Votes and seats won by TNA by electoral district
Electoral District | Votes | % | Seats | Turnout | TNA MPs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ampara | 48,789 | 17.41% | 1 | 82.51% | A. Chandranehru (TULF) |
Batticaloa | 86,284 | 48.17% | 3 | 68.20% | G. Krishnapillai (ACTC) Joseph Pararajasingham (TULF) Thambiraja Thangavadivel (TELO) |
Colombo | 12,696 | 1.20% | 0 | 76.31% | |
Jaffna | 102,324 | 54.84% | 6 | 31.14% | V. Anandasangaree (TULF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam (ACTC) Nadarajah Raviraj (TULF) Mavai Senathirajah (TULF) M. K. Shivajilingam (TELO) A. Vinayagamoorthy (ACTC) |
Trincomalee | 56,121 | 34.83% | 1 | 79.88% | R. Sampanthan (TULF) |
Vanni | 41,950 | 44.39% | 3 | 46.77% | Selvam Adaikalanathan (TELO) Sivasakthy Ananthan (EPRLF) Irasa Kuhaneswaran (TELO) |
National List | 1 | M. Sivasithamparam (TULF), died 5 June 2002 K. Thurairetnasingam (TULF) (replaces M. Sivasithamparam) | |||
Total | 348,164 | 3.88% | 15 | 76.03% | |
Source: "Parliamentary General Election 2001, Final District Results". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. |
In the 2 April 2004 parliamentary election in which the United People's Freedom Alliance alliance led by President Kumaratunga came to power, the Tamil National Alliance led by Rajavarothiam Sampanthan won 6.84% of the popular vote and 22 out of 225 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament.
Votes and seats won by TNA by electoral district
In the 2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, in which the United People's Freedom Alliance , led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, retained power, the Tamil National Alliance, led by Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, won 2.9% of the popular vote and 14 out of 225 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament.
Votes and seats won by the TNA by electoral district
Electoral District | Votes | % | Seats | Turnout | TNA MPs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ampara | 26,895 | 10.47% | 1 | 64.74% | Podiappuhamy Piyasena |
Batticaloa | 66,235 | 36.67% | 3 | 58.56% | P. Ariyanethiran (ITAK) P. Selvarasa (ITAK) S. Yogeswaran (ITAK) |
Jaffna | 65,119 | 43.85% | 5 | 23.33% | Suresh Premachandran (EPRLF) E. Saravanapavan (ITAK) Mavai Senathirajah (ITAK) S. Sritharan (ITAK) A. Vinayagamoorthy |
Trincomalee | 33,268 | 23.81% | 1 | 62.20% | R. Sampanthan (ITAK) |
Vanni | 41,673 | 38.96% | 3 | 43.89% | Selvam Adaikalanathan (TELO) Sivasakthy Ananthan (EPRLF) Vino Noharathalingam (TELO) |
National List | 1 | M. A. Sumanthiran (ITAK) | |||
Total | 233,190 | 2.90% | 14 | 61.26% | |
Source: "Parliamentary General Election – 2010". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. |
The Varathar wing has restyled itself as the Padmanaba wing, after its murdered leader. It is registered as a political party with the Sri Lankan Department of Elections under the name of Padmanaba Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front. [13] In 2008 it joined with other anti-Tamil Tiger parties to form the Tamil Democratic National Alliance (later restyled Democratic Tamil National Alliance) to contest provincial and local elections.
The wing's de facto leader (Varatharajah Perumal is in exile in India) Kandiah "Robert" Subathiran was murdered on 14 June 2003. [14] The wing's current General Secretary (and de facto leader) is Thirunavukkarasu Sritharan (Sridharan). [15]
There have been repeated allegations that various factions of the EPRLF, despite their claim to have given up violence, operate armed wings which have worked with the IPKF and Sri Lankan Army. A group composed of former EPRLF cadres known as Razeek Group works along with the Sri Lankan Army as a paramilitary group in activities against the Tamil Tigers in the Batticaloa region. They have also been accused of indulging in massacres, kidnappings and torture [16]
The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka.
All Ceylon Tamil Congress, is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka.
The Tamil National Alliance is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan Tamil minority. It was formed in October 2001 by a group of moderate Tamil nationalist parties and former militant groups. The alliance originally supported self-determination in an autonomous state for the island's Tamils. It supported negotiations with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to resolve the civil war in Sri Lanka. The TNA was considered a political proxy of the LTTE which selected some of its candidates even though its leadership maintains it never supported the LTTE and merely negotiated with the LTTE just as the Government did.
The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) is an Eelam Tamil organisation which campaigned for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam in the northeast of Sri Lanka during 1972-1987 which later accepted the December 19th proposals. The TELO was originally created as a militant group, and functioned as such until 1986, when most of its membership was killed in a conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Its surviving members reorganised themselves as a political party, and it continues to function as such today.
The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) is a Sri Lankan political party and a pro-government paramilitary organization. It is led by its founder Douglas Devananda.
Veerasingham Anandasangaree is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician, former Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front. He is commonly known as Sangaree. A vocal critic of violence committed by all sides, Sangaree is a supporter of federalism similar to that of India as a solution to Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict.
Kathiravelu Nythiananda Devananda, commonly known as Douglas Devananda, is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician, Cabinet Minister and leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party. Originally a Sri Lanka Tamil militant who fought against the Sri Lankan government for an independent Tamil Eelam, he became a pro-government paramilitary leader and politician. Due to his strong opposition to and vocal criticism of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, they unsuccessfully tried to assassinate him over 10 times. Devananda is a proclaimed offender in India and is wanted on charges of murder, attempt to murder, rioting, unlawful assembly and kidnapping. He was sworn in as Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources on 22 November 2019.
Rajavarothiam Sampanthan was a Sri Lankan politician and lawyer who led the Tamil National Alliance from 2001 until his death in 2024. He was a Member of Parliament from 2001 until his death, and previously from 1977 to 1983 and from 1997 to 2000. He was the Leader of the Opposition from September 2015 to December 2018.
Arumugam Kandaiah Premachandran is a Sri Lankan Tamil militant turned politician and former Member of Parliament. He is the current leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), a member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
Somasundaram Senathirajah born 27 October 1942; commonly known as Mavai Senathirajah) is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former Member of Parliament. He was the leader of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) from 2014 to 2024, the main constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
Mahalingam Kanagalingam Shivajilingam is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician, provincial councillor and former Member of Parliament.
Jaffna Electoral District is one of the 22 multi-member electoral districts of Sri Lanka created by the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka. The district covers the administrative districts of Jaffna and Kilinochchi in the Northern province. The district currently elects 9 of the 225 members of the Sri Lankan Parliament and had 529,239 registered electors in 2014.
Local elections were held in Sri Lanka on 8 August 2009 for two local councils in the north of the country: Jaffna Municipal Council and Vavuniya Urban Council. They were the first elections held in the country since the government declared victory in the 26-year-old civil war on 18 May 2009. They were also the first local elections held in the Northern Province in more than 11 years. Both towns had been under government control for many years. The government won the Jaffna Municipal Council contest by securing 13 of the 23 seats. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won the Vavuniya Urban Council contest by securing 5 of the 11 seats. Turnout was very low in Jaffna (22%) but it was better in Vavuniya (52%).
Local elections were held in Sri Lanka on 29 January 1998 for 17 local authorities on the Jaffna peninsula, in the north of the country. They were the first local elections held in the peninsula since 1983. Turnout was low due to the threats issued by the rebel Tamil Tigers. The Eelam People's Democratic Party gained control of nine local authorities, Democratic People's Liberation Front (PLOTE) three, Tamil United Liberation Front one and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization one. There was no overall control in the three remaining local authorities.
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi is a Sri Lankan political party which represents the Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic minority in the country. It was originally founded in 1949 as a breakaway faction of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC). In 1972, ITAK merged with the ACTC and Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) to form the Tamil United Front, which later changed its name to the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). ITAK remained dormant until 2004 when a split in the TULF resulted in ITAK being re-established as an active political party. ITAK is a constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance.
Annamalai Varadaraja Perumal is a politician from Sri Lanka. He was the 1st and only Chief minister of the North Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. He is the founder of Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front.
Kandasamy Pathmanabha was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and founder/leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.
The Tamil People's National Alliance, also known as the Thamizh Makkal Tesiya Kootani, is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic minority. It was formed in February 2020 by a group of Tamil nationalist parties after they broke away from the Tamil National Alliance. The alliance is recognised by the Election Commission of Sri Lanka as registered political party with the fish as its symbol.
The Democratic Tamil National Alliance, previously known as the Tamil Democratic National Alliance, is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic minority. The alliance is recognised by the Election Commission of Sri Lanka as registered political party with the brass lamp (kuthuvilakku) as its symbol.
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