Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front ஈழமக்கள் புரட்சிகர விடுதலை முன்னணி ඊලාම් ජනතා විප්ලවවාදී විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ | |
---|---|
Secretary | Varatharajah Perumal |
Founded | 1980 |
Split from | EROS |
Headquarters | 85/9 Pokuna Road, Hendala, Wattala (Suresh wing) 15C Summit Flats, Keppetipola Mawatha, Colombo 07 (Padmanaba wing) |
Ideology | Tamil nationalism Secularism |
Political position | Centre-left |
National affiliation | TPNA (Suresh wing) Democratic Tamil National Alliance (Padmanaba wing) |
Election symbol | |
Flower (Suresh wing) Candle (Padmanaba wing) | |
Website | |
eprlfnet.com (Padmanaba wing) | |
The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) is a series of Sri Lankan political parties and a former militant separatist group.[1]
Militant separatists
The EPRLF was formed in 1980 by K. Pathmanabha (Padmanaba), Douglas Devananda, Suresh Premachandran and Varatharajah Perumal as a breakaway faction of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students.[2]
In 1982 the EPRLF formed a military wing, People's Liberation Army, headed by Douglas Devananda. The PLA is believed to have received military training by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
In early 1986 disputes amongst the EPRLF leadership led to it splitting into two factions: EPRLF (Ranjan) and EPRLF (Douglas).
In late 1986 the
In 1987 the EPRLF (Douglas) faction formally split from the EPRLF. It initially formed the Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front with a breakaway faction of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam led by Paranthan Rajan, but later transformed itself into the Eelam People's Democratic Party.[4]
Political party
After its military defeat by the Tamil Tigers the EPRLF transformed itself into political party and allied itself with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) who were occupying much of Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka.
The EPRLF's first foray into politics came in the flawed
The EPRLF formed an alliance with the Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization and Tamil United Liberation Front to contest the 1989 parliamentary elections. The alliance won 188,593 votes (3.40%), securing 10 of the 225 seats in Parliament. 7 of the 10 alliance MPs were from the EPRLF.
On 1 March 1990, just as the IPKF were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Varatharajah Permual moved a motion in the North Eastern Provincial Council
On 19 June 1990 the Tamil Tigers attacked an EPRLF meeting in Madras, murdering thirteen EPRLF members including leader K. Padmanaba, Jaffna District MP G. Yogasangari and former North Eastern Province Finance Minister P. Kirubakaran.[9]
In 1997, after the
The party broke into two factions in 1999 when its General Secretary
Suresh wing
The Suresh wing joined other pro-Tamil Tiger parties in 2001 to form the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
2001 Parliamentary General Election
In the first parliamentary election contested by the
Votes and seats won by TNA by electoral district
Electoral District |
Votes | % | Seats | Turnout | TNA MPs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ampara | 48,789 | 17.41% | 1 | 82.51% | A. Chandranehru (TULF) |
Batticaloa | 86,284 | 48.17% | 3 | 68.20% | G. Krishnapillai (ACTC) Joseph Pararajasingham (TULF) Thambiraja Thangavadivel (TELO) |
Colombo | 12,696 | 1.20% | 0 | 76.31% | |
Jaffna | 102,324 | 54.84% | 6 | 31.14% | V. Anandasangaree (TULF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam (ACTC) Nadarajah Raviraj (TULF) Mavai Senathirajah (TULF) M. K. Shivajilingam (TELO) A. Vinayagamoorthy (ACTC) |
Trincomalee | 56,121 | 34.83% | 1 | 79.88% | R. Sampanthan (TULF) |
Vanni | 41,950 | 44.39% | 3 | 46.77% | Selvam Adaikalanathan (TELO) Sivasakthy Ananthan (EPRLF) Irasa Kuhaneswaran (TELO) |
National List | 1 | M. Sivasithamparam (TULF), died 5 June 2002 K. Thurairetnasingam (TULF) (replaces M. Sivasithamparam) | |||
Total | 348,164 | 3.88% | 15 | 76.03% | |
Source:"Parliamentary General Election 2001, Final District Results". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. |
2004 Parliamentary General Election
In the
Votes and seats won by TNA by electoral district
Electoral District |
Votes | % | Seats | Turnout | TNA MPs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ampara | 55,533 | 19.13% | 1 | 81.42% | K. Pathmanathan, died 21 May 2009 Thomas Thangathurai William, from 12 June 2009 (replaces K. Pathmanathan) |
Batticaloa | 161,011 | 66.71% | 4 | 83.58% | Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy , from 18 May 2004 (replaces Kingsley Rasanayagam)
Thanmanpillai Kanagasabai Thangeswary Kathiraman Kingsley Rasanayagam, resigned April 2004 P. Ariyanethiran |
Jaffna | 257,320 | 90.60% | 8 | 47.38% | Kidnan Sivanesan )
|
Trincomalee | 68,955 | 37.72% | 2 | 85.44% | ITAK )
|
Vanni | 90,835 | 64.71% | 5 | 66.64% | ) |
National List | 2 | Chandra Nehru Chandrakanthan, from 27 September 2006 (replaces Joseph Pararajasingham) )
Raseen Mohammed Imam, from 5 February 2008 (replaces M. K. Eelaventhan | |||
Total | 633,654 | 6.84% | 22 | 75.96% | |
Source:"Parliamentary General Election 2004, Final District Results". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. |
2010 Parliamentary General Election
In the
Votes and seats won by the TNA by electoral district
Electoral District |
Votes | % | Seats | Turnout | TNA MPs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ampara | 26,895 | 10.47% | 1 | 64.74% | Podiappuhamy Piyasena |
Batticaloa | 66,235 | 36.67% | 3 | 58.56% | ITAK )
|
Jaffna | 65,119 | 43.85% | 5 | 23.33% | ITAK)
A. Vinayagamoorthy |
Trincomalee | 33,268 | 23.81% | 1 | 62.20% | ITAK )
|
Vanni | 41,673 | 38.96% | 3 | 43.89% | Selvam Adaikalanathan (TELO) Sivasakthy Ananthan (EPRLF) Vino Noharathalingam (TELO) |
National List | 1 | ITAK )
| |||
Total | 233,190 | 2.90% | 14 | 61.26% | |
Source:"Parliamentary General Election – 2010". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. |
Varathar wing / Padmanaba wing
The Varathar wing has restyled itself as the Padmanaba wing, after its murdered leader. It is registered as a political party with the Sri Lankan Department of Elections under the name of Padmanaba Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front.
The wing's de facto leader (Varatharajah Perumal is in exile in India) Kandiah "Robert" Subathiran was murdered on 14 June 2003.[14] The wing's current General Secretary (and de facto leader) is Thirunavukkarasu Sritharan (Sridharan).[15]
Paramilitary group
There have been repeated allegations that various factions of the EPRLF, despite their claim to have given up violence, operate armed wings which have worked with the IPKF and
References
- ^ "Tamil Militant Groups". Library of Congress Country Studies. Washington, D.C., U.S.A.: Library of Congress. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ Sri Kantha, Sachi (5 May 2006). "Celebrating the LTTE's 30th Anniversary". Ilankai Tamil Sangam. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ "The Snares of Violence". University Teachers for Human Rights. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ DBS Jeyaraj (22 November 2001). "The Douglas Devananda phenomenon". The Sunday Leader, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ISSN 0266-4488.
- ^ K T Rajasingham (20 April 2002). "Sri Lanka" The Untold Story". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 27 April 2002. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Shamindra Ferdinando (10 September 2000). "I'm no traitor, says Perumal". Sunday Island, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 1 May 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
- ^ Subramanian, T.S. (15 November 1997). "PADMANABHA MURDER CASE: End of a trial". Frontline. Vol. 14, no. 23. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 October 2008.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Subramanian, T.S. (14 August 1999). "SRI LANKA: Chronicle of murders". Frontline. Vol. 16, no. 17. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b c "The Murder of T. Subathiran : Sri Lanka's End Game". University Teachers for Human Rights. 15 June 2003. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ "Election commissioner releases results". TamilNet. 30 January 1998. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
- ^ DBS Jeyaraj (5 July 2003). "The killing spree". Frontline. Vol. 20, no. 14. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Political Parties". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ "EPRLF Varathar wing senior member shot dead in Jaffna". TamilNet. 14 June 2003. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ Kamalendran, Chris (26 August 2007). "Government sidelines Karuna, promotes new front in East". Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ Another human bomb[usurped]
External links
- EPRLF (Padmanaba wing) Archived 6 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine