Patriotic People's Armed troops ( si, දේශප්‍රේමී ජනතා සන්නද්ධ බලකාය, Deshaprēmi Janathā Sannaddha balakāya;

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

DJS or PPAt) was a militant organization in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The organization was recognized as a military arm of the

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; ) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party and a former militant organization in Sri Lanka. The movement was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 (SLFP), and anot ...

(JVP; People's Liberation Front), which was attempting to overthrow the

government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...

Background of foundation

The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987, between

Indian Prime Minister The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

and

Sri Lankan President The President of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනාධිපති ''Śrī Laṃkā Janādhipathi''; ta, இலங்கை சனாதிபதி ''Ilankai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of t ...

J. R. Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene ( si, ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන, ta, ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly abbreviated in Sri Lanka as ...

. The accord was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan Civil War by enabling the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. It brought the Provincial Councils Act of 1987. Under the terms of the agreement, Colombo agreed to give limited autonomy to the provinces, Indian Army unit,

Indian Peace Keeping Force Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lankan ...

(IPKF) was deployed to militarily protect the accord.

Southern insurgency

As the accord was seen by Sinhalese extremists as a conscious betrayal by the government of Sri Lanka,

(JVP), led an insurgency in

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

west West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

, and

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

of the country; it formed multiple organizations in around the

Peradeniya Peradeniya ( si, පේරාදෙණිය, translit=Pēradeniya; ta, பேராதனை, translit=Pērātaṉai) is a suburb of the city of Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a m ...

area, organizations that received training under the JVP were affiliated to the Socialist Students' Union.

Operation

The PPAt along with the DJV were frontal organizations of the JVP. Between 1987–1989 JVP carried out attacks on civilians and raids against

Sri Lanka Armed Forces The Sri Lanka Armed Forces is the overall unified military of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka encompassing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force; they are governed by the Ministry of Defence (Sri Lank ...

(SLAF) military installments. The PPAt was operating as a military arm of the JVP; it raided the Sri Lankan Army camp in Pallekele, John Kotelawela Defense Academy, and the

SLAF Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) ( si, බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ, translit=Bandāranāyaka Jātyantara Guvantoṭupaḷa; ta, பண்டாரநாயக்க � ...

Sri Lanka Air Force base. Similarly, multiple other military arms affiliated to the JVP carried out attacks under the orders of the Joint Command of the PPAt. On April 29, 1988, the Joint Command ordered the attack on the Pannala Air Force base. Over 500 weapons and 50,000 rounds of ammunition were taken.

Death threats

The Joint Command, Patriotic People's Armed Troops issued death threats calling government troops ( SLA, SLAiF, SLN) desert their ranks and to join the PPAt. A communique revealed that the Joint Command had ordered its armed troops to eliminate individuals who refuse to collaborate. It said that they would not just be dealt as ''traitors'' but also ''enemies of the country'' by the PPAt. As a result of these, the government forces faced and increased amount of desertions from its members.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 1987–1989 JVP insurrection Paramilitary organisations based in Sri Lanka 1987 in Sri Lanka 1988 in Sri Lanka 1989 in Sri Lanka Factions in the Sri Lankan Civil War Indian Peace Keeping Force