CONFIDENTIAL
President Jayewardene and in accordance with the agreement, Indian troops landed in northern Sri Lanka to help guarantee the cessation of hostilities and the handing over of arms. There are now about 40,000 Indian troops in Sri Lanka.
20. Terrorist activity in the north and east declined with the signing of the agreement, but violent demonstrations on the part of the Sinhalese community took place in other parts of the country.
21.
All the Tamil separatist groups originally gave their backing to the agreement, but at the end of September the leader of the Tamil Tigers repudiated the accord, on the grounds that the Sri Lankan Government had failed to keep to the agreement to release detainees, and had continued to encourage Sinhalese settlement in Tamil areas. The Tigers began to engage in wrecking tactics, attacking other Tamil groups and massacring civilians. Large numbers of civilians were killed, and thousands made homeless.
22. All the Tamil separatist groups originally gave their backing to the agreement, but at the end of September the leader of the Tamil Tigers repudiated the accord, on the grounds that Sri Lankan Government had failed to keep to the agreement to release detainees, and had continued to encourage Sinhalese settlement in Tamil areas. The Tigers began to engage in wrecking tactics, attacking other Tamil groups and massacring civilians. Large numbers of civilians were killed, and thousands made homeless.
23. In early October, the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (which had been widely criticised for its passivity) launched a major offensive against the Tamil Tigers' stronghold of Jaffna. Jaffna city was occupied by Indian troops on 25 October, but at least 1,000 Tiger cadres escaped into the countryside. Elsewhere in the Jaffna Peninsula, Indian forces have continued to attack minor Tiger strongholds, using airstrikes and artillery bombardment, and sporadic clashes between Indian troops and Tamil Tigers have continued in the East. Many civilians have been caught up in the fighting and there is widespread criticism of the Indian forces. Ironically, many Tamils, who formerly called upon India to protect them from persecution by the Sri Lanka Government, are now complaining of human right violations against them by the Indian Peace-Keeping Force.
24. A new threat has emerged in the south of the country, where the JVP, a proscribed marxist organisation, is exploiting Sinhalese disaffection with the peace terms and is carrying out a campaign of intimidation, murder and bombings against the Government.
But on
22 January, despite the violence, the Provincial Council Elections Law (which gives effect to the provisions in the peace agreement relating to Tamil autonomy) was enacted by the Sri Lankan Parliament by 101 votes to 7. This now paves the way for provincial council elections to be held, although President Jayewardene has said that elections could not take place while fighting continued.
25. Britain continues to believe that the Indo-Sri Lanka peace agreement of July 1987 offers the only route to a lasting settlement
CONFIDENTIAL