Jaffna

Jaffna is a city in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It had been the second largest city in the country for several decades, till recent times. In the current unsettled situation in the northern part of Sri Lanka, many residents have moved out of the town, and thus the population has been reduced considerably. Jaffna also functions as the capital of Northern Province and the cultural capital of Sri Lankan Tamils. It is also a so-called 'stronghold' of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), a militant organization seeking the establishment of an independent state for Ceylon Tamils.

Related Topics:
Sri Lanka - Tamils

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Many of the Tamils from this region have moved out to either Colombo or other foreign countries. This exodus of Tamils from Jaffna has occurred for a number of reasons.

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One major contributing factor is the Sri Lankan government's recent military control over the city. For some time now, 30,000 Sri Lankan troops have been stationed in the northern peninsula on which Jaffna is situated to neutralise the LTTE's activities. Earlier disappearances of Tamils suspected of belonging or supporting the LTTE occurred on a regular basis, and Sri Lankan soldiers regularly and arbitrarily searched Tamil homes. This has come to an end after the ceasefire agreement in 2002.

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However, another major contributor (that LTTE sympathizers dismiss) is the fact that the LTTE has carried out threats of violence to any Tamils that did not support the LTTE's political ideology. This is evident in the fact that the vast majority of Tamils that left Jaffna to settle in other areas of Sri Lanka are vocal opponents to the LTTE and live in relative harmony with the majority Singhalese population.

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Jaffna has also been a site of 'ethnic cleansing' supported and carried out by the LTTE and it's supporters. The census of 1971 showed 20,514 Singhalese residing in Jaffna but by mid October 1987 there were, for all intensive purposes, none. Moor (Ceylon Muslim) residents, who had lived in Jaffna for more than 1,000 years, were also expelled by LTTE forces in 1992 when the LTTE issued a statement claiming that any Muslims that stayed after 24 hours from the time the statement was issued were to do so 'at their own risk'. The general consensus by Sri Lankans and the broader international community is that Jaffna is now populated strictly by Tamils who support the LTTE.

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Jaffna is located on a peninsula of the same name. It is densely populated, and Jaffna town has a population of 169,102.

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In the 13th Century there was a Kingdom in Jaffna established by Arya Chakravartis, a chieftain from the Pandya kingdom.

Related Topics:
Arya Chakravartis - Pandya

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Jaffna College, dating back to 1819, and the American missionaries who founded it, where Malaysian, Singaporean, South Indian and even Japanese students were enrolled as early as the 1930s and 1940s.

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