Thirunelveli, Sri Lanka

Last updated
Tirunelveli, Sri Lanka
CountryFlag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka
Province Northern Province
Time zone UTC+5:30 (Sri Lanka Standard Time)

Thirunelveli (pronounced Thiru-nel-veyli) is a town in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. The name in Tamil transliterates to "God's-paddy-field." It is located about 5 km from Jaffna. This is the location of a LTTE attack that killed 13 soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army in July 1983, triggering the Sri Lankan Civil War.

See also

Related Research Articles

Kilinochchi Town in Northern, Sri Lanka

Kilinochchi is the main town of Kilinochchi District, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Kilinochchi is situated at the A9 road some 100 km (62 mi) south-east of Jaffna. It was the administrative center and de facto capital of the LTTE until 2 January 2009, when troops of the Sri Lankan Army recaptured the city.

Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lankan Civil War between Sri Lankan Tamil nationalists such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan military.

Jaffna Kingdom Former Kingdom of Ceylon

The Jaffna Kingdom, also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula. It was traditionally thought to be established after the invasion of Magha, who is credited with the founding of the Jaffna kingdom and is said to have been from Kalinga, in India. Established as a powerful force in the north, north east and west of the island, it eventually became a tribute-paying feudatory of the Pandyan Empire in modern South India in 1258, gaining independence in 1323, when the last Pandyan ruler of Madurai was defeated and expelled in 1323 by Malik Kafur, the army general of the Muslim Delhi Sultanate. For a brief period, in the early to mid-14th century, it was an ascendant power in the island of Sri Lanka when all regional kingdoms accepted subordination. However, the kingdom was eventually overpowered by the rival Kotte Kingdom, around 1450 when it was invaded by Prince Sapumal under the Kotte Kingdom's directive.

Burning of Jaffna Public Library 1981 event during the Sri Lankan civil war

The burning of the Jaffna Public Library took place on the night of June 1, 1981, when an organized mob of Sinhalese individuals went on a rampage, burning the library. It was one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the 20th century. At the time of its destruction, the library was one of the biggest in Asia, containing over 97,000 books and manuscripts.

Jaffna Hindu College Public national school in Jaffna, Jaffna District, Northern Province, Sri Lanka

Jaffna Hindu College is a national school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1886 by a group of Hindu people who wanted an English language alternative to the Christian missionary schools.

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.

Jaffna International Airport

Jaffna International Airport, formerly known as Palaly Airport and Jaffna Airport, is an international airport serving northern Sri Lanka. It is also a military airbase known as Sri Lanka Air Force Palaly or SLAF Palaly. The airport is located in the town of Palaly near Kankesanthurai, 7 nautical miles north of the city of Jaffna. It resides at an elevation of 10 m (34 ft) and has one runway designated 05/23 with an asphalt surface measuring 1,400 by 30 metres.

Jaffna District Administrative District in Northern, Sri Lanka

Jaffna District is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the city of Jaffna.

Kilinochchi District Administrative District in Northern, Sri Lanka

Kilinochchi District is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the town of Kilinochchi.

Uthayan is a Tamil language Sri Lankan daily newspaper published by New Uthayan Publication (Private) Limited, part of the Uthayan Group of Newspapers. It was founded in 1985 and is published from Jaffna. Its sister newspapers is the Colombo based Sudar Oli. Uthayan was the only newspaper published from Jaffna which did not cease publication due to the civil war. The newspaper has been attacked several times, a number of its staff have been murdered by paramilitary groups and other forces, and it regularly receives threats.

Operation Riviresa, was a combined military operation launched by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in Jaffna. Starting on 17 October 1995, the primary objective of the operation was the capture of the city of Jaffna and rest of the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE. It is believed that Operation Riviresa was the largest and most successful military operation in Sri Lankan Armed Forces during the Third Eelam War.

The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka provides for the election of members of Parliament from 22 multi-member electoral districts through the proportional representation electoral system.

Nallur Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between March 1960 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Nallur in Jaffna District, Northern Province. The district was carved out of the eastern part of Jaffna Electoral District in March 1960. The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka introduced the proportional representation electoral system for electing members of Parliament. The existing 160 mainly single-member electoral districts were replaced with 22 multi-member electoral districts. Nallur electoral district was replaced by the Jaffna multi-member electoral district at the 1989 general elections, the first under the PR system, though Nallur continues to be a polling division of the multi-member electoral district.

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%).

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.

University of Jaffna

The University of Jaffna is a public university in the city of Jaffna in Sri Lanka. Established in 1974 as the sixth campus of the University of Sri Lanka, it became an independent, autonomous university in 1979. Like all public universities in Sri Lanka, UoJ receives the bulk of its funding from the University Grants Commission (UGC), part of the Ministry of Higher Education in Colombo. The UGC and the central government therefore exert a great deal of control over the university.

Jaffna City in Sri Lanka

Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most populous city. Jaffna is approximately six miles from Kandarodai which served as an emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical antiquity. Jaffna's suburb Nallur, served as the capital of the four-century-long medieval Jaffna Kingdom.

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.

Sivagnanam Shritharan is a Sri Lankan Tamil teacher, politician and Member of Parliament.

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.