Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi
Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi ( ta, இலங்கைத் தமிழரசுக் கட்சி, si, ඉලංගෙයි තමිළ් අරසු කච්චි; ITAK) is a Sri Lankan political party which represents the Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic minority in the country. It was originally founded in 1949 as a breakaway faction of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC). In 1972, ITAK merged with the ACTC and Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) to form the Tamil United Front, which later changed its name to the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). ITAK remained dormant until 2004 when a split in the TULF resulted in ITAK being re-established as an active political party. ITAK is a constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance. History Federal Party ITAK was founded in late 1949 by a group of three Ceylon Tamil parliamentarians, S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, C. Vanniasingam and Senator E. M. V. Naganathan, who had withdrawn from G. G. Ponnambalam's ACTC over the latter's decisio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mavai Senathirajah
Somasundaram Senathirajah ( ta, சோமசுந்தரம் சேனாதிராஜா si, මාවෙයි සේනාධිරාජා) born 27 October 1942; commonly known as Mavai Senathirajah) is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and Member of Parliament. He is the current leader of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), a member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Early life Senathirajah was born on 27 October 1942. He was educated Veemanramam School and Nadeswara College. After school he joined the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya as an external student and graduated with a bachelor's degree. Senathirajah got involved in the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism movement at a young age and took part in the 1961 satyagraha. He joined the youth wing of Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the Tamil Youth League, in 1962. He was secretary of the Eela Thamil Elanger Eyakam (Eelam Tamil Youth Movement) from 1966 to 1969. He was arrested on several occasions between 196 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greenwood Press
Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Greenwood Press, Inc. and based in Westport, Connecticut, GPG publishes reference works under its Greenwood Press imprint, and scholarly, professional, and general interest books under its related imprint, Praeger Publishers (). Also part of GPG is Libraries Unlimited, which publishes professional works for librarians and teachers. History 1967–1999 The company was founded as Greenwood Press, Inc. in 1967 by Harold Mason, a librarian and antiquarian bookseller, and Harold Schwartz who had a background in trade publishing. Based in Greenwood, New York, the company initially focused on reprinting out-of-print works, particularly titles listed in the American Library Association's first edition of ''Books for College Libraries'' (1967), unde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1956 Ceylonese Parliamentary Election
Parliamentary elections were held in Ceylon in 1956. They were a watershed in the country's political history, and was the first elections fought to realistically challenge the ruling United National Party. The former Leader of the House, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who was passed over after the death of the first Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake, crossed over to the opposition to form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to launch his bid for Prime Minister. Background The UNP government of John Kotelawala had been rapidly losing steam. It faced widespread criticism over Ceylon's poor economic performance. Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party now championed a popular socialist platform, calling for English to be replaced by Sinhala as the island's official language. The UNP resisted this out of deference to Ceylon's Tamil minority, but changed its position in early 1956. This only served to cost the UNP its Tamil support while gaining it little among the Sinhalese. The Lanka Sama Sa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sri Lankan Parliament
The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Shri Lanka Parlimenthuwa'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் ''Ilaṅkai nāṭāḷumaṉṟam'') is the supreme legislative body of Sri Lanka. It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the island. It is modeled after the British Parliament. It consists of 225 members known as Members of Parliament (MPs). Members are elected by proportional representation for five-year terms, with universal suffrage. The President of Sri Lanka has the power to summon, suspend, prorogue, or terminate a legislative session and to dissolve the Parliament. President can dissolve Parliament only after the lapse of years or if majority of Members of Parliament requests him. The actions of the president to either suspend or dissolve the Parliament is subject to leg ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1952 Ceylonese Parliamentary Election
Parliamentary elections were held in Ceylon in 1952. It is notable for being the second and final election overseen and administered by the Department of Parliamentary Elections before its merger in 1955. Background Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake died in March 1952, and was succeeded by his son, Dudley. The national wave of mourning for Ceylon's first prime minister greatly boosted the UNP's fortunes. The 1952 election was the first contested by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which had broken away from the UNP on a platform of Sinhala nationalism, and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party), which split from the All Ceylon Tamil Congress over joining the UNP government. Results Because the estate Tamils had been stripped of their citizenship by the Senanayake government, the Ceylon Indian Congress, which most of them had supported, was eliminated from Parliament and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party lost seats. The UNP won a majority, mainly at the cost of the CIC and t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2004 Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 2 April 2004. The ruling United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated, winning only eighty two seats in the 225-member Sri Lankan parliament. The opposition United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats. While this was eight seats short of an absolute majority, the Alliance was able to form a government. On 6 April President Chandrika Kumaratunga commissioned Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former Labour Minister, as Prime Minister. Parties The United People's Freedom Alliance was formed as an alliance between President Kumaratunga's party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Other parties that belong to the People's Alliance, such as the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the Democratic United National Front, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya, later joined UPFA. In the 2001 elections, the People's Alliance a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Veerasingham Anandasangaree
Veerasingham Anandasangaree ( ta, வீரசிங்கம் ஆனந்தசங்கரி) is a leading Sri Lankan Tamil politician, former Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front. He is commonly known as Sangaree. A vocal critic of violence committed by all sides, Sangaree is a supporter of federalism similar to that of India as a solution to Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. Early life Sangaree was born 15 June 1933 in Point Pedro in northern province of Ceylon. He was the son of Sangarapillai Veerasingham, the principal of Sri Somaskanda College Puttur, and Ratnamma from Thumpalai near Point Pedro. He grew up in Achchuveli. He had six brothers and two sisters. He was educated at Sri Somaskanda College Puttur, Christian College Atchuvely Achchuveli, Hartley College and Zahira College, Colombo. Between 1953 and 1959 he taught at Jaffna Hindu College, Poonakari M.M.V., Christ the King College Ja-Ela and Sri Kotalawelapura G.T.M.S. Ratmalana. He la ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tamil Tiger
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, translit=Damiḷa īḷām vimukthi koṭi; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil militant organization that was based in northeastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an Independence, independent Tamils, Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island, due to the continuous Sinhala Only Act, discrimination and List of attacks on civilians attributed to Sri Lankan government forces, violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese people, Sinhalese dominated Sri Lanka government, Sri Lankan Government.T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Volume 1, Introduction (2003)T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Volume 1, Chapter 1: Why didn't he hit back? (2003) Violent persecution erupted in the form of the 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2001 Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 December 2001, just a little over a year after the last elections in October 2000. Background The People's Alliance (PA) government faced a blow when most of the SLMC MPs left the coalition. President Chandrika Kumaratunga tried to recruit the JVP to replace it, but this angered several PA MPs, thirteen of which defected to the opposition. A no-confidence motion was prepared; to forestall this, Kumaratunga called the election. More than 1,300 incidents of election violence were reported during the campaign. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was nearly killed by a suicide bomber. Overall, 60 people were killed in election-related violence, including 14 on polling day. Parties * Democratic People's Liberation Front (DFLP) * Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) * People's Alliance (Bahejana Nidasa Pakhsaya, BNP), which consisted of: ** Communist Party of Sri Lanka ** Democratic United National Front ** Lanka S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sri Lankan Tamil Militant Groups
Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception among minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese for educational opportunities and government jobs. By the end of 1987, the militants had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces but also the Indian Peace Keeping Force. They also fought among each other briefly, with the main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group dominating the others. The militants represented inter-generational tensions, as well as the caste and ideological differences. Except for the LTTE, many of the remaining organizations have morphed into minor political parties within the Tamil National Alliance, or as standalone political parties. Some Tamil militant groups also functioned as paramilitaries within the Sri Lankan military against separati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1977 Sri Lankan Parliamentary Election
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 21 July 1977. The result was a landslide victory for the United National Party, which won 140 of the 168 seats in the National State Assembly. Background Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike had become extraordinarily unpopular. Her economic policies had led to industrial growth and self-reliance, but were insufficient to overcome unemployment. Constitutionally, she had taken advantage of the 1972 constitution to delay the election until 1977, instead of 1975 as would have been the case under the old Soulbury constitution. The government's strong Sinhala nationalist stance had led to unrest in the Tamil north; in response, an island-wide state of emergency was imposed, causing hardship to many people. The UF coalition Bandaranaike had built for the 1970 elections had disintegrated. By contrast, the United National Party had made a surprising comeback since its 1970 humiliation. Under the leadership of J.R. Jayewardene it ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |