The Tamil Eelam Liberation Army was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel group. TELA was originally the military wing of the

Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) is an Eelam Tamil organisation which campaigned for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam in the northeast of Sri Lanka during 1972-1987 which later accepted the December 19th proposals. ...

, but split away from TELO in 1982.

Early period

TELA was founded by Thangathurai at a meeting in a temple in Thondamanaru in September 1977, along with the

(TELO). TELA was to function as the military wing of the movement, whilst TELO would be its political wing. Thangathurai had modeled this set-up based on the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

. In its early phase, TELA gained a notable presence in the

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mo ...

area. It was, alongside the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

, the largest Tamil militant group in the area.

Split from TELO

In 1982, after the prison massacre of the TELO leadership, TELA broke loose from TELO and began functioning as a separate political faction. After the split, TELA was led by Kulasegaram Devasegaram ().Marks, Thomas A.
Maoist Insurgency Since Vietnam

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

: Frank Cass, 1996. p. 189 Devasegaram had a feud with Prabhakaran (who was then in the TELO), which had resulted in the split. At this point, TELA became known for a series of attacks on government property. Devasegaram was assassinated in August 1983, soon after the split. The

(LTTE) was blamed for the killing of Devasegaram, and soon afterwards TELA aligned itself with the archrival of LTTE, the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam.

Internal disarray

After the killing of TELA leader Castro, splits and internal feuds appeared within the organization. The group was divided into two factions, one led by Rajan and another led by Senthil. Followers of the two groupings began killing each other. PLOTE sided with the Senthil faction. The links between PLOTE and TELA and the animosity between TELA and LTTE eventually resulted in the breakdown of the talks between PLOTE and the

Eelam National Liberation Front The Eelam National Liberation Front (ENLF) was a short-lived (1984-1986) umbrella organisation for leading Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups. Formation In April 1984 M. Karunanidhi invited the leaders of the five leading Tamil militant groups, ...

. ENLF was a coalition of Tamil militant groups (TELO, EROS, EPRLF including LTTE). PLOTE insisted that the Senthil faction of TELA ought to be included in ENLF along with PLOTE, a demand that the LTTE refused to accept.
Eelam National Liberation Front
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References

{{reflist People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam Tamil Eelam Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization