The Militant Groups – By the early 1980s the confidence that the Tamils had in their political leaders had begun to wane. While simultaneously there had emerged Tamil militant youth groups, all sharing the common objective of achieving by force of arms, a separate state of Tamil Eelam in the north and east of Sri Lanka. However, because the Tamil people who had generally desliked violence, were reluctant to support the militants, those groups remained small until 1983.
Watershed – 1983 was the watershed in the ethnic conflict following the Ambush and killing of 13 soldiers in THIRUNUVELLI. Countrywide attacks on Tamils characterized by massacres and destruction, created a mass exodus of Tamils seeking refuge abroad. In Sri Lanka itself a large number of Tamils were reduced to condition of refugees. Those attacks also induced Tamil youth to join the militant groups emerged, so that by 1985 there were around 35 of them. The 1983 attacks on Tamils brought about angry reactions in India, whose population included over fifty million Tamils. India began to militarily train and arm Tamil militant groups of Sri Lanka, and so also assist them in other ways.
Growth of the Tamil Militant Groups – 1984 saw a serious escalation of the armed ethnic conflict. By the end of 1985 there had emerged among those militant groups, four strong ones. They were the Tamil Ealam Liberation Organization (TELO), the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), Ealam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), and the Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Ealam (PLOTE). It was around that time that the TELO leader Sri Sabaratnam declared in their tabloid, published in London, “Let us concentrate our forces for a concentrated struggle to achieve liberation” and also added that, “in unity lies our strength”.
Internecine warefare – Militant Groups – Less than six months later, in April – May 1986, the TELO leader and most of his militants were killed in surprise attacks by the LTTE who had decided to decimate TELO. By the end of that year EPRLF and PLOTE too were emasculated by the LTTE, leaving thereby only the LTTE as a reckonable Tamil militant force.
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) – In July 1987 the Indo Lanka Peace Accord was signed by India and Sri Lanka, with the objective of ending the conflict and also inducing the militant groups to join the mainstream of politics. Most of the groups, other than the LTTE did so and their militant wings have since 1990, fought side by side with the security forces against the LTTE. The Indo Lanka Peace Accord saw the induction of a strong Indian Peace Keeping Force into the northern and eastern provinces. In early October 1987, the LTTE began a confrontation with the IPKF which went until March 1990, when the IPKF were withdrawn from Sri Lanka.