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Country : Sri Lanka Official name: Sri Lanka Prajathanthrika Samajavadi Janarajaya / Llankais Sananayaka socialisak kutiyarasa / Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka |
Historical profile
Sri Lanka became an outpost of Buddhism after the religion had mostly disappeared in the rest of South Asia. Historic kingdoms included that centred around the central city of Kandy, which resisted Western encroachment until 1815.
1815 The British became the first colonial power to win control of the island, which became known as Ceylon. Tamils from India were brought over to work on the plantations.
1931 The right to vote was introduced by the colonial authorities, who also established a system of power-sharing with the people of Ceylon.
1948 Ceylon gained full independence from British rule.
1949 The right to vote was taken away from Indian Tamils.
1951 Solomon Bandaranaike left the ruling Ekshat Jathika Pakshaya (EJP) (United National Party) to form the Sri Lanka Nidahas Pakshaya (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) (SLFP).
1953 A decision by the EJP government to cut the rice ration in the slump following the Korean War saw riots assume insurrectionary proportions.
1956 Bandaranaike became prime minister. Sinhala was made the state language by Bandaranaike's SLFP government, sparking anti-Tamil pogroms.
1959–60 Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959. His widow, Sirimavo, was elected SLFP leader and prime minister the following year. She stepped up the nationalisation programme.
1964 A pact with India forced half a million Indian Tamil plantation workers to return to India.
1965 The EJP won elections and began attempts to reverse the nationalisation programme.
1970 Sirimavo Bandaranaike began what would be her second term as prime minister, which would last until 1977.
1971 A rural uprising led by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) (People's United Liberation Front) was crushed.
1972 The country changed its name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka and Buddhism became the country's official religion.
1976 The main Tamil party, the Federal Party, and other Tamil groups, formed the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), calling for a separate Tamil state in the northern and eastern parts of the country. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was formed.
1977 A constitutional amendment was passed which established a presidential system of government from the end of the year. In elections, the TULF won all the seats in Tamil areas.
1978 J R Jayewardene became the country's first executive president. Continued violence and pressure from the Tamils led the government to recognise the Tamil language in the new constitution.
1983–84 Tamil terrorist activity and anti-Tamil pogroms broke out. The latter constituted the worst outbreak of violence for many years, sparking a state of emergency. India began training Tamil guerrillas. Conflicts developed in the north of the island between the army and the LTTE.
1985 The first attempts at peace talks with the LTTE failed.
1986 Violence continued to convulse the northern and eastern provinces. Sri Lanka's relations with India were severely strained by the violence. India mediated informally between TULF legislators, Tamil leaders and the Sri Lankan government.
1987 Following an accord with India, more than 7,000 Indian troops were sent to Sri Lanka to try to implement a peace accord. The government signed accords created new councils for Tamil areas in the north and east.
1989 Ranasinghe Premadasa was sworn in as president. The state of emergency which had been in force since May 1983 was repealed.
1990 Indian troops went home after losing more than 1,000 soldiers and failing to achieve their objectives. The LTTE controlled large parts of northern Sri Lanka.
1991 The LTTE was implicated in the assassination of Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
1993 President Premadasa was killed in an LTTE bomb attack.
1994 Seventeen years of rule by the EJP ended when the Bahejana Nidasa Pakhsaya (People's Alliance) (PA), a left-wing nine-party coalition centred on the SLFP, won the legislative elections. The prime minister, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (SLFP), was elected as president. She appointed her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, as prime minister for the third time (she was previously prime minister 1960–64 and 1970–77).
1995 Peace talks with the LTTE collapsed and the LTTE resumed its bombing campaign. The government launched a major offensive, driving the LTTE out of its Jaffna stronghold.
1996 The LTTE bombed the capital, Colombo, leading to a nationwide state of emergency.
1998 Sri Lanka's fiftieth anniversary celebrations were marred by renewed fighting between the army and separatist LTTE in the north of the country. The LTTE bombed Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist site and captured key northern towns in a large offensive.
1999 President Kumaratunga won her second and final term in office. Kumaratunga was partially blinded in one eye during bombing at an election rally .
2000 A state of war was declared under the Public Security Ordinance, its first application since 1949. Norway began a mediating role, putting a peace package before the LTTE. Parliamentary elections returned a hung parliament, with the PA dependent on two moderate Tamil-linked parties for support. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world's first female prime minister, died soon after casting her vote. An LTTE cease-fire was rejected by the government.
2001 The LTTE was declared a terrorist organisation by the British and Canadian governments, which moved to halt funds reaching the guerrillas. The LTTE blew up half of the commercial fleet of Sri Lankan Airlines at Colombo's airport. Kumaratunga dissolved parliament to avoid a no-confidence vote after eight members left her coalition government. She announced a snap election, which was won by the opposition, EJP, and its allies. The president will remain executive head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces until the December 2005 presidential election. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (EJP) was appointed and asked to form a government.
2002 A cease-fire negotiated by Norway came into effect, ending the civil war between the government and the LTTE. The ruling party won local elections which were also billed as a referendum on peace plans. The ban on the Tamil Tigers was removed as a prelude to peace talks in Thailand, at which the Tamil Tigers dropped their demand for independence and said they would settle for regional autonomy with self-government.
2003 In April, the LTTE pulled out of the peace talks; the reason quoted was that they were being excluded from an aid donor planning meeting and were unhappy about the lack of progress in improving living conditions for Tamils. They also had misgivings over a power-sharing deal. In November, the LTTE asked for interim powers over the north and east of the island, where the Tamil minority is mostly concentrated, and fearing the break-up of Sri Lanka, the President suspended parliament, dismissed three cabinet ministers, taking control of their portfolios herself. Troops were deployed in Colombo to prevent disturbances and a state of emergency was declared.
2004 The President, who is in a power struggle with her prime minister, dissolved parliament on 7 January and called snap elections on 2 April, which resulted in a win for the President's party, United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA). Mahinda Rajapakse became prime minister in April. The south-east coastal area of Sri Lanka was devastated by the 26 December tsunami.
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