Polikandy

Last updated

Polikandy

பொலிகண்டி
පොලිකණ්ඩි
Town
Impressions of Polikandy.jpg
Clockwise from top: Murugan/Kanthavanam Temple; Polikandy Hindu Tamil Mixed School; Kattumaram at PK beach: Polikandy fishing activity; Sri Pathira Kali Amman Temple
Location map Sri Lanka Northern Province EN.svg
Red pog.svg
Polikandy
Coordinates: 9°49′25″N80°11′15″E / 9.82361°N 80.18750°E / 9.82361; 80.18750 Coordinates: 9°49′25″N80°11′15″E / 9.82361°N 80.18750°E / 9.82361; 80.18750
Country Sri Lanka
Province Northern
District Jaffna
DS Division Vadamarachchi North
Population
  Total5,843
  [1]
Time zone UTC+5:30 (Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone)

Polikandy is a town located in Jaffna District, Northern Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. Cities, towns. Places near Polikandy include Point Pedro (which is an extreme point of Sri Lanka), Valvettithurai, Karanavai and Karanavai North. Polikandy has three divisions: Polikandy East, Polikandy West and Polikandy South.

Contents

This legendary town is well known for being the birthplace of Thillaiyambalam Sivanesan Soosai, the Chief Commander of the Sea Tigers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or the Sea Tigers, a Tamil nationalist militant group that waged a war for independence in the North and East of Sri Lanka. This town is also the place of birth of the leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Lieutenant Colonel David, Castro (Manivannan) and Kadaapi (Athavan). Polikandy was the first town to introduce the Sea Tigers.

This town of the Northern Province has seen many battles between the Sri Lankan Army vs. LTTE during the early 1990 till 2005, especially during the 1990s for a short period of time under the control of LTTE however under government control since 2005 where the Sri Lankan Army recaptured it from the LTTE.

Polikandy has various temples for gods of the Hindu pantheon, especially the one for the Murugan/ Kanthavanam temple, Sri Pathira Kaali Amman temple, Ilupai Mulai Pillayaar Temple, and Polikandy west Kulathady Vairavar/Bhairava temple. These are the four largest compared to the smaller temples in the vicinity. Most of the temples have a rich history of at least a century.

During the civil war, between 1990 to 1995, people from the Valikamam North area — including Palaly, Kankesanthurai, Myliddy, Tellippalai and Keerimalai have internally displaced to the shores of Polikandy whose livelihood was fishing.

Schools include the Polikandy Hindu Tamil Mixed School and American Mission Tamil Mixed School.

Primary industry is agriculture / farming and fishing.

See also

Related Research Articles

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Militant Tamil organisation in Sri Lanka (1976-2009)

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was a Tamil militant organization that was based in northeastern Sri Lanka. Its aim was to secure an independent state of Tamil Eelam in the north and east in response to the state policies of successive Sri Lankan governments that were widely considered to be discriminatory towards the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, as well as the oppressive actions—including anti-Tamil pogroms in 1956 and 1958—carried out by the majority Sinhalese.

Sri Lankan Civil War 1983–2009 civil war between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil separatists

The Sri Lankan Civil War was a civil war fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, there was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Velupillai Prabhakaran led Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island, due to the continuous discrimination and violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese dominated Sri Lankan Government.

Velupillai Prabhakaran Leader of militant Tamil organisation in Sri Lanka (1954–2009)

Velupillai Prabhakaran was a Sri Lankan Tamil guerrilla and the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The LTTE waged war in Sri Lanka for more than 25 years, to create an independent state for the Sri Lankan Tamil people.

The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan Civil War by enabling the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act of 1987. Under the terms of the agreement, Colombo agreed to a devolution of power to the provinces, the Sri Lankan troops were to be withdrawn to their barracks in the north and the Tamil rebels were to surrender their arms.

Elephant Pass

Elephant Pass, Northern Province, Sri Lanka is located in the gateway of Jaffna Peninsula. There are about 340km north from capital to here. It has an important military base and used to be the island's largest salt field. It has regularly been the site of battles during the civil war.

Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception among minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese for educational opportunities and government jobs. By the end of 1987, the militants had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces but also the Indian Peace Keeping Force. They also fought among each other briefly, with the main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group dominating the others. The militants represented inter-generational tensions, as well as the caste and ideological differences. Except for the LTTE, many of the remaining organizations have morphed into minor political parties within the Tamil National Alliance, or as standalone political parties. Some Tamil militant groups also functioned as paramilitaries within the Sri Lankan military against separatist militants.

Sri Lankan state-sponsored colonization schemes is the government program of settling mostly farmers from the densely populated wet zone in the sparsely populated areas of the dry zone in the North Central Province, Southern Province, Uva Province, Sabaragamuwa Province, Northern Province and the Eastern Province regions near tanks and reservoirs being built in major irrigation and hydro-power programs such as the Mahaweli project to create farming and fishing communities. This has taken place since the 1950s.

Pottu Amman (Tamil militant)

Shanmugalingam Sivashankar was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and leading member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.

The expulsion of the Muslims from the Northern province was an act of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Tamil militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization in October 1990. The cause of this forced eviction of an entire community was neither the war situation that existed at that time nor any tension between the Tamil-Muslims (moors) and the majority Tamil population; it was an order from the LTTE leadership. The opposition to creating a separate Tamil homeland by the Muslim leadership may have enforced this decision. As a consequence, in October 1990, the LTTE forcibly expelled 90,000 strong Muslim population from the Northern Province.

Operation Poomalai

Operation Poomalai, also known as Eagle Mission 4, was the codename assigned to a mission undertaken by the Indian Air Force for airdropping supplies over the besieged town of Jaffna in Sri Lanka on 4 June 1987 to support the Tamil Tigers during the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Thileepan

Rasaiah Parthipan was a Tamil Eelam revolutionary and member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka. He died while on hunger strike.

Tamil Eelam Proposed independent state in Sri Lanka

Tamil Eelam is a proposed independent state that many Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The name is derived from the ancient Tamil name for Sri Lanka, Eelam. Tamil Eelam, although encompassing the traditional homelands of Sri Lankan Tamils, does not have official status or recognition by world states. Large sections of the North-East were under de facto control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for most of the 1990s–2000s.

Eelam War II Armed conflict between Sri Lankan military and LTTE

Eelam War II is the name given to the second phase of armed conflict between Sri Lankan military and the separatist terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The war started after the failure of peace talks between the Premadasa government and the LTTE. This phase of the war was initiated by the LTTE who massacred almost 600 Sinhalese and Muslim police personnel after they were ordered by the Premadasa government to surrender to the LTTE. The truce was broken on June 10, 1990 when the LTTE in October expelled all the 28,000 Muslims residing in Jaffna.

Theepan

Velayuthapillai Baheerathakumar was a leading member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka. He played a leading role in the LTTE's military victories in the Vanni during Eelam War III, including Mullaitivu (1996), Kilinochchi (1998), Oddusuddan (1999) and Elephant Pass (2000). He was killed at the Battle of Ananthapuram in the last days of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Northern Province, Sri Lanka Province of Sri Lanka

The Northern Province is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils. Between 1988 and 2006 the province was temporarily merged with the Eastern Province to form the North Eastern Province. The capital of the province is Jaffna. The majority of the Sri Lankan Civil War was played out in this province.

Valvettithurai Town in Sri Lanka

Valvettithurai, sometimes shortened as VVT or Valvai, is a coastal town of Jaffna District on the northeast coast of the Jaffna Peninsula in Northern Province, Sri Lanka governed by an Urban Council of the same name. Valvettithurai was historically known for its seafaring traditions and olden transnational shipping trade.

The Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War was the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka intended to perform a peacekeeping role. The deployment followed the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord between India and Sri Lanka of 1987 which was intended to end the Sri Lankan Civil War between militant Sri Lankan Tamil nationalists, principally the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the Sri Lankan military.

Varuthalaivilan Town in Sri Lanka

Varuthalaivilan is a small town or village in the northern Jaffna District of Sri Lanka.

References

  1. "Sri Lanka: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population". World Gazetteer.[ dead link ]