Jaffna Hospital Massacre - Background Information

Background Information

During the British colonial period, when Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, most civil service jobs (roughly 60%) were held by the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, who comprised approximately 15% of the population. This was enabled because of the availability of western style education provided by American missionaries and others in the Tamil dominant Jaffna peninsula. The preponderance of Tamils over their proportionate share of the population was an issue for populist majority Sinhalese politicians, who came to political power by promising to elevate the Sinhalese people. The resultant measures as well as riots and pogroms that targeted the minority Sri Lankan Tamils led to the formation of a number of rebel groups advocating independence for Sri Lankan Tamils. Following the 1983 Black July pogrom full scale civil war began between the government and the rebel groups.

In 1987 the government of Sri Lanka and India entered into an agreement and invited the Indian Army to be used as peace keepers. Eventually the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) came into conflict with one of the rebel groups namely the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). By October 1987 the Indian forces were trying to wrest control of the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE.