Donoughmore Constitution comes into force. Elections to State Council held on the basis of ‘universal suffrage’.

G. G. Ponnambalam founds All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC). Challenges earlier Tamil leaders and campaigns for Tamils' rights.

United National Party (UNP), one of the two main political parties of the country formed with D. S. Senanayake as the leader. Several stalwarts like S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sir John Kotelawala, Dudley Senanayake and Junius Richard Jayawardene join hands with D. S. Senanayake.

Soulsbury Constitution adopted. General elections conducted to the Parliament of Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then known).

Ceylon gains independence from the British. An enactment in Parliament disenfranchises Tamils of Indian origin.

Ceylon citizenship Act enacted.

ACTC split; more aggressive Tamil Federal Party formed.

Indian and Pakistani Residents (Citizenship) Act enacted.

Parliamentary Elections Amendment Act enacted. It reduced political participation of Indian Tamils.

S .W. R. D. Bandaranaike splits UNP and forms Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

S. J. V. Chelavanayakam parts company with ACTC, founds Federal Party (FP) and declares that a federal framework alone would preserve Tamils’ rights. Accuses Ponnambalam of complacency in the wake of discriminatory legislation. Demand for devolution of power gathers momentum.

Ceylon Indian Congress, originally founded by Natesa Iyer and others, in 1939, renamed as Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) under the leadership of S. Thondaman.

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike elected Prime Minister. Sinhala made the only official language of the country. Tamils feel disadvantaged in education and employment opportunities.

Bandaranaike – Chelavanayakam Pact signed. UNP protests the signing of the Pact.

Sinhalese-Tamil riots.

Buddhist monk assassinates S. W. R. D Bandaranaike.

UNP comes to power for a brief period between March and July. SLFP leader and Bandaranaike’s widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike elected Prime Minister.

Indian Prime Minister Lalbahadur Shastri and Sirimavo Bandaranaike sign the Shastri-Sirimavo Pact. India agrees to accept 5,25,000 ‘stateless citizens’ and Sri Lanka 3,00,000.

UNP wins polls. Dudley Senanayake elected Prime Minister.

Dudley Senanayeke and S. J. V. Chelavanayakam sign the Senanayake-Chelavanayakam Pact. Tamils have a grievance that the Pact was never fully implemented.

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka is directed by the Privy Council in London to ‘review’ the Official Language Act on grounds that it violated Section 29(2) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

United Front coalition of SLFP, Lanka Sama Samaj Party (LSSP) and Communist Party (CP) comes to power.

Sri Lanka rocked by youth insurrection carried out by Janatha Vimukti Perumana (JVP). Rohana Wijeweera leads the insurrection that aimed at a violent overthrow of the government. More than 1,200 died. 18,000 insurgents and sympathisers arrested.

Government abolishes the right of appeal to the Privy Council. Tamils complain of having lost the scope for redressal through a judicial system free of Sinhala influence.

Sri Lanka adopts new ‘Republican Constitution’. Several moves by the government--removal of Section 29(2), unitary nature of Sri Lanka, Buddhism being granted foremost place, recognition of Sinhala as the sole official language–-alienate many Tamils, who hold that the Constitution had been imposed on them.

New admission procedure, 'process of standardisatoin’, diminishes opportunities for Tamil students in universities and institutes of higher learning.

Police clamp down on the 4^th International Tamil Literary Conference. Several persons killed, scores of others injured.

Federal Party, some sections of Tamil Congress and Ceylon Workers Congress form Tamil United Front (TUF).

Young members ("Youth Leaguers") of TUF organise themselves as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Target opponents of separatist movement, indulge in burglaries and killings of police.

TUF renames itself as TULF. Openly calls for a separate Tamil state. CWC dissociates from TULF. TULF takes shape as predominantly a party of Sri Lankan Tamils.

General elections to Parliament of Sri Lanka held. Jayawardene of the UNP sweeps the polls. Tamils exhorted to vote for Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). The TULF manifesto declares that a vote for TULF is a vote for the National State Assembly of Tamil Eelam, which will frame its own constitution and establish an independent Tamil Eelam by bringing the constitution into force, by peaceful means or direct action or struggle.

Anti-Tamil violence breaks out.

Sinhalese-Tamil riots.

Jayawardene takes office as the first Executive President of the country. New Constitution adopted. Tamil is recognised as a national language along with Sinhala, but Sinhala is retained as the ‘sole official language’.

TULF refuses to participate in Constitution-making on the ground that the Constitution reiterated the unitary nature of the state.

1978-79

Sixth Amendment to Constitution outlaws ‘separatism’ and provides for banning of separatist parties. Sinhalese, Moors and Indian Tamils support amendment. Sri Lankan Tamils oppose it.

Jaffna Public Library burned down.

Sinhalese-Tamil riots.

Prominent TULF leaders go into self-imposed exile in India.

The July 23 killing of 13 Sinhalese soldiers by the LTTE sparks-off Sri Lanka’s worst-ever racial riots, between 24 & 31 July. An estimated 2,000 died. Property initially estimated at US$150 million damaged or destroyed. Tamils arrested arbitrarily and detained for long periods without trial.

All party conference convened to discuss the framework for a political settlement of Tamils' grievances. Ministry of National Security formed to combat terrorist violence.

Talks held at Thimpu, capital of Bhutan, between Tamil leaders and the government to find a negotiated settlement. Talks break down as the LTTE stages a walk out.

Operation Poomalai -- Indian Air Force (IAF) planes enter Sri Lankan air space and drop ‘food and medicine’ for the people of Jaffna. 1,35,000 Tamil refugees in various camps in India.

Resolution moved in the United Nations against Sri Lanka for violation of human rights.

India and Sri Lanka sign an agreement (Indian Peace Keeping Force [IPKF] Accord) to bring normalcy in the island. IPKF sent to Sri Lanka. LTTE makes a token surrender of arms, while almost every other Tamils group lays down arms. LTTE rearms itself.

LTTE resumes separatist war, on 10 October 1987. Attacks IPKF.

1987-88

13^th Amendment to the Constitution modifies the ‘Unitary’ nature of Sri Lanka, provides for devolution of powers to provinces. 16^th Amendment recognises Sinhala and Tamil as national languages.

1987-89

JVP resumes insurgency. Kills 2,500 people including Chandra Kumaratunga, the present President’s spouse.

Elections held to Northeastern province. Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) leader Varadaraja Perumal elected Chief Minister.

Ranasinghe Premadasa succeeds Jayawardene as President.

Premadasa government makes the second attempt at peace, by initiating talks with the LTTE

Rohana Wijeweera captured and killed in prison.

IPKF withdraws on March 24, after a series of negotiations between the governments of India and Sri Lanka.

Talks between the LTTE and the government fail. Economic embargo clamped on the north and parts of east (Tamil areas) of the island. LTTE gains control of large areas in the north and east.

The number of refugees in India peaks to 2,10,000.

Premadasa assassinated on May 1, at rally.

Chandrika Kumaratunga takes office, on 16 August, first as Prime Minister and later as Executive President in November.

The third round of peace talks between LTTE and government commence on 13 October.

Six months into the talks, LTTE resumes militant activities on 19 April by bombing two navy boats.

Peoples Alliance (PA), with SLFP as the leading partner, comes to power on a ‘mandate of peace’.

Army launches Operation Jayasikuru. Sri Lankan forces gain control over Jaffna, on December 2.

LTTE overruns an army camp in Mullaithivu, on 18 July, killing 1,200 troops.

Army launches its biggest ground offensive, Operation Sure Victory, to capture the Jaffna-Vavuniya highway.

6,00,000 ‘internally displaced persons’ in Sri Lanka, the government estimates.

In a daring and devastating suicide attack, on 25 January, LTTE cadres strike at Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist shrine, Temple of Tooth, in Kandy. 13 people killed in the incident.

First-ever local elections since 1983 held in Jaffna, on January 29. Polls fail to provide a viable political process.

Government imposes a nationwide 'State of Emergency', on 6 August, in the 'interest of public security'.

On 6 September, LTTE offers to recommence peace talks. Insists on third party mediation. Government rejects offer.

Defence Ministry says government troops captured a large area from the LTTE in the Vanni sector.

President Kumaratunga, on 19 October, rules out peace talks with the LTTE for the time being.

LTTE launches Operation Unceasing Waves III.

LTTE fights back and regains a lot of territory.

LTTE makes an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Kumaratunga, on 18 December.