CIVIL WAR IN SRI LANKA

CIVIL WAR OF SRI LANKA AND RAJIV GANDHI ASSASINATION

The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on 23 July 1983, there was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam  (the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers), an Independent militant organisation which fought to create an Independent Tamils state called Tamil Eelam in the north and the east of the island.

                                                    Flag of the militant group LTTE.

                                          Leader of the LTTE  

Thiruvenkadam Velupillai Prabhakaran also known as anna .He  was the founder and leader of the  (the LTTE or the Tamil Tigers).

Origins of the Sri Lankan civil war

Since 1948 when Sri Lanka became independent, successive governments have adopted policies that had the effect of net preference to the majority Sinhalse at the expense of the minoritySri lanka Tamils The governments adopted these policies in order to assist the Sinhalese community in such areas as education and public employment. But these policies severely curtailed the middle class Tamil youth, who found it more difficult during the 1970s and 1980s to enter a university or secure employment. These individuals belonging to this younger generation, often referred to by other Tamils as "the boys" formed many militant organizations. The most important contributor to the strength of the militant groups was theBlack July pogrom which was perceived have been an organized event in which over 1000 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians were killed prompting many youth to prefer the armed path of resistance.

 

            YOUNG TAMIL BOYS ATTRACTED TOWARDS LTTE

The only demand of ltte was to get full control over North East Sri-lanka.

               ROLE OF INDIA IN CIVIL WAR  OF SRI LANKA

                     (INDIAN PEACE KEEPING FORCE)

The Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War was the deployment of the Indian peace keeping Force in Sri Lanka intended to perform a peace keeping role. The deployment followed the Indo Sri Lnka Accord between India and Sri Lanka of 1987 which was intended to end the Sri Lankan Cicil War between millitant Sri lankan Tamil nationalists principally the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam  (LTTE), and the sri lanka military

The original intention was the Indian Peace Keeping Force would not be involved in large scale military operations. However, after a few months, the Indian Peace Keeping Force engaged the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in a series of battles. During the two years in which it was deployed, the IPKF fought numerous battles against the LTTE. The IPKF began withdrawing in 1989, and completed the withdrawal in 1990.

                        IPKF TAKING PART IN SRI-LANKA CIVIL WAR

                                     RAJIV GANDHI ASSASINATION.

The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi took place on 21 May 1991 in Tamilnadu near Chennai.The Supreme Court judgement, by Judge Thomas, confirmed that the killing was carried out due to personal animosity of the LTTE chief Prabhakaran towards Gandhi arising out of his sending the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka and the alleged IPKF atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils.

 After investigation by a special team formed by the supreme court of india  a death punishment was given to the 7 people.

RAJIV GANDHI FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA.

 A BEAUTIFUL QUOTES BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN :-A HOUSE DEVIDED AGAINST ITSELF AGAINST CANNOT STAND.

INFORMATION TAKEN FROM :- WIKIPEDIA,WWW.BBC.COM,WWW.CHANNEL4.COM.

OPERATION BLUE STAR

                         

Operation Blue Star was a military operation which was ordered by Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, to remove Sikh militants who were amassing weapons in the Harmandir Sahib Complex (Golden Temple) in Amritsar, in order to establish control over it. The operation was launched in response to a deterioration of law and order in Punjab.

                        ISSUE OF KHALISTAN

The Khalistan movement is a political nationalism movement which seeks to create a separate Sikh country, called Khālistān (punjabi: ਖਾਲਿਸਤਾਨ, "The land the Pure") in the Punjabi region of South Asia. The territorial definition of the proposed country ranges from the Punjab state of India to the great

STAGE 1:- After the partition was announced, the majority of the Sikhs migrated from the Pakistani part to the Indian province of Punjab, which then included the parts of the present-day Harayana and Himachal Pradesh. Following India's independence in 1947, The punjabi Movement led by the Akali Dal aimed at creation of a Punjabi-majority state (Suba) in the Punjab region of India in the 1950s. Concerned that creating a Punjabi-majority state would effectively mean creating a Sikh-majority state, the Indian government initially rejected the demand. After a series of protests, violent clampdowns on the Sikhs, and the Indo-pak the Government finally agreed to partition the state, creating a new Sikh-majority Punjab state and splitting the rest of the region to the states of Himachal Pradesh, the new state Haryana. Subsequently, the Sikh leaders started demanding more autonomy for the states, alleging that the Central government was discriminating against Punjab. Although the Akali Dal explicitly opposed the demand for an independent Sikh country, the issues raised by it were used as a premise for the creation of a separate country by the proponents of Khalistan.

STAGE 2:- In 1971, the Khalistan proponent Jagjit singh chuhan travelled to the United States. He placed an advertisement in The New York Times proclaiming the formation of Khalistan and was able to collect millions of dollars from the Sikh diaspora On 12 April 1980, he held a meeting with the Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi  before declaring the formation of "National Council of Khalistan", at Anandpur SahibHe declared himself as the President of the Council and Balbir Singh Sandhu as its Secretary General. In May 1980, Jagjit Singh Chauhan travelled to London and announced the formation of Khalistan. A similar announcement was made by Balbir Singh Sandhu, in Amritsar, who released stamps and currency of Khalistan. The inaction of the authorities in Amritsar and elsewhere was decried by Akali Dal headed by the Sikh leader 
Harchand singh 
Longowal as a political stunt by the Congress(1) party of Indira Gandhi
The Khalistan movement reached its zenith in the 1970s and 1980s, flourishing in the Indian state of Punjab which has a Sikh Majority people and has been the traditional homeland of the Sikh religion. Various pro-Khalistan outfits have been involved in a separatist movement against thegovernment of India  ever since. There are claims of funding from Sikhs outside india to attract young people into these pro-Khalistan militant groups.
In the 1980s, some of the Khalistan proponents turned to militancy, resulting in counter-militancy operations by the Indian security forces. In one such operation, Operation Blue Star (June 1984), the Indian Army led by the Sikh General 
Kuldip singh brarc forcibly entered the Harminder sahib  (the Golden Temple) to overpower the armed militants and the religious leader Jarnail singh. The handling of the operation, damage to the Akal takht (which is one of the five seats of temporal physical religious authority of the Sikhs) and loss of life on both sides, led to widespread criticism of the Indian Government. Many Sikhs strongly maintain that the attack resulted in the desecration of the holiest Sikh shrine. The Indian Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi was assasinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in retaliation. Following her death, thousands of Sikhs were massacred in the 1984 anti sikh riots  termed as a genocide by the Sikh groups.
In January 1986, the Golden Temple was occupied by militants belonging to All India Sikh Student Federation and Damdami Taskal On 26 January 1986, the gathering passed a resolution (gurmattā) favouring the creation of Khalistan. Subsequently, a number of rebel militant groups in favour of Khalistan waged a major insurgency  against the government of India. Indian security forces suppressed the insurgency in the early 1990s, but Sikh political groups such as the kHALSA RAJ PARTY and SAD(A) continued to pursue an independent Khalistan through non-violent means. Pro-Khalistan organizations such as Dal Khalsa International  are also active outside India, supported by a section of the Sikh diaporsa

                DAY OF OPERATION BLUE STAR:-

                                                 ARMY INFORMATION:-

Indian Army

• Central Reserve Police Force
• Border Security Force
• Punjab Police

Supported by:
Special Air Force

10,000 armed troops. of 9th Division, National Security Guard 175 Parachute Regiment (India) and Artillery units
700 jawans of CRPF 4th Battallion and BSF 7th Battallion
150 Jawans of Punjab Armed Police and officers from Harmandir Police Station

MILITARY PLAN HOW TO ATTACK GOLDEN TEMPLE .

136 army jawans were were killesd killed and near about 500 civilians .

             INDIRA GANDHI ASSASINATION.

      October 31, 1984, New Delhi

Indira Gandhi, the 4th Prime Minister of india was assassinated at 9:20 AM on 31 October 1984, at her safdargar ganj road New Delhi  residence. She was killed by two of her body guards Satwnt Singh and Beant Singh in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star the India's army  June 1984 assault on the  in Amritsar which left the Sikh temple heavily damaged.

Beant Singh was one of Gandhi's favorite guards, whom she had known for ten years. The other assassin, Satwant Singh, was 21 years old when the assassination occurred and had been assigned to Gandhi's guard just five months before the assassination.

The assailants had fired 33 bullets at her, of which 30 had hit; 23 had passed through her body while seven were trapped inside. 

              ANTI SIKH RIOTS OF 1984 .

The 1984 anti-Sikhs riots or the 1984 Sikh Massacre were a series a series of programes against Sikhs in India by anti-Sikh mobs, in response to the assasination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. There were more than 8,000^[6] deaths, including 3,000 in Delhi.

GOLDEN TEMPLE AFTER OPERATION BLUE STAR.

                                   INFORMATION :-1WIKIPEDIA
                                                                  2 OFFICIAL SITE OF TIMES OF INDIA
                                                                  3 DNA INDIA.COM.
                                          AND IMPORTANT POINTS TAKEN FROM MY FATHER.

                                                                  THE END

SIKH DHARAM

                                    SIKH DHARAM

Sikhism is the world’s fifth-largest religion. Founded in the Punjab region of India about 500 years ago. Most of the world’s 25 million Sikhs live in India, but more than 500,000 make the U.S. their home.

The founder of sikh dharam(Religion) was Guru nanak dev ji.Guru nanak dev ji was born on 15 April 1469 and died on 22 september 1539.

The sikh dharam is based on the three basic principles given by the first Guru,Guiru nanak dev ji.

The first word is Vaṇḍ Chhakō (Punjabi: ਵੰਡ ਛਕੋ) .IT is one of the three main pillars of the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji the founder of the Sikh Dharam The other two pillars are Naam Japo and Kirat Kara It is a technique and method which means share what you have and to consume it together as a community. This could be wealth, food. etc. The term is also used to mean to share ones wealth with others in the community, to give to charity, to distribute in Langer and to generally help others in the community who need help. A Sikh is expected to contribute at least 10% of their wealth/income to the needy people of the world or to a worthy cause.

                               Teachings of Sikh Dharam(Religion).

Sikh Dharam teachings can be found in the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib as a vast collection of revelatory verses recorded in Gurumukhi

From these some common principles seem discernible. Firstly a supreme Godhead who although incomprehensible, manifests in all major religions, the Singular "Doer" and formless. It is described as the indestructible (undying) form.

                     AN EXAMPLE OF VAND KE CHHAKO

                                       AN EXAMPLE OF KIRAT KARNA

               AN EXAMPLE OF SEWA  AT GURU DWARA

Nanak describes the dangers of egotism (haumai- "I am") and calls upon devotees to engage in worship through the word of God. Naam, implies God, the Reality, mystical word or formula to recite or meditate upon (shabad in Gurbani), divine order (hukam) and at places divine teacher (guru) and guru’s instructions and singing of God’s qualities, discarding doubt in the process. However, such worship must be selfless (sewa). The word of God, cleanses the individual to make such worship possible. This is related to the revelation that God is the Doer and without God there is no other. Nanak warned against hypocrisy and falsehood saying that these are pervasive in humanity and that religious actions can also be in vain. It may also be said that ascetic practices are disfavoured by Nanak, who suggests remaining inwardly detached whilst living as a householder.

                    ELEVEN GURU OF SIKH DHARAM:-

1.Guru nanak dev ji.

2.Guru angad de ji

3.Guru amar das ji

4.Guru ram das ji

5.Guru arjan dev ji

6.Guru har gobind dev ji

7.Guru har rai ji

8.Guru har krishan dev ji

9.Guru tegh bahadur dev ji

10.Guru gobind singh ji

11.Guru granth sahib

 CLASHES BETWEEN MUGHAL EMPIRE AND SIKH                                                                  DHARAM:-

1st Sikh guru arjan dev ji killed by Muslims Mughal Emperor Jahangir ordered him to be tortured and sentenced to death.

Guru Arjan dev ji:- In 1581,  — Guru Arjan the youngest son of the fourth guru — became the Fifth Guru of the Sikhs. In addition to being responsible for building the Golden Temple, he prepared the Sikh Sacred book and his personal addition of some 2,000 plus hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib

In 1604 he installed the Adi Granth for the first time as the Holy Book of the Sikhs. In 1606, for refusing to make changes to the Gurū Granth Sāhib, he was tortured and killed by the Mughal rulers of the time.

Guru Tegh Bahadur :-The site in the Chandini Chowk area of Old Delhi, is where the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded on the orders of the Mughal emperor in 1675 AD. Aurangzeb for refusing to convert to Islam .

                                             SIS GANJ SAHIB GURUDUWARA DELHI

Guru Gobind Singh ji:- Guru Gobind Singh  was the last of the ten Sikh Gurus. He was a warriaor,poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at the young age of nine. He contributed much to Sikkhisim notable was his contribution to the continual formalisation of the faith which the first Guru Guru Nanak had founded, as a religion, in the 15th century; and his promotion of the covering of one's hair with a turban. Guru Gobind Singh, the last of the living Sikh Gurus, initiated the Sikh kahalsa  in 1699 passing the Guruship of the Sikhs to the Eleventh and Eternal Sikh Guru, the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred Book of the Sikhs.

1.    Creation of khalsa(30 March 1699):- The creation of the Khalsa; initiated by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru. Although the early Mughal emperors had peaceful relations with the Sikh Gurus, the Sikhs started facing religious persecution during the reign of Jahangir.

                                           AN EXAMPLE IMAGE OF KHALSA:-

                                           5 K IN SIKH RELEGION

                                 GOLDEN TEMPLE OF AMRITSAR

   

                 A SMALL SIKH GIRL DOING SEWA IN GURUDUWARA.
                     A beautiful line by GURU GOBIND SINGH JI
                      chidiya naal je baaj ladawan taan Gobind Singh naam dharavan.

                                          INFORMATION TAKEN FROM MY DEAR MOM
                                        wikipedia,www.sikhdharma.org,www.fatehsikh.net
                                                                      THE END