The Accords continues...

The elections were held as per schedule although the level of violence was raised by the LTTE as well as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).

The Tamil groups except LTTE participated in the elections. Out of 107 members who were elected to the new North-Eastern Councils, the Tamil parties, viz. Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and

Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF), won the majority.

Annamalai Varadaraja Perumal, the Chairman of EPRLF, became the Chief

Minister of the Provincial Council. Thus, after a long period of violence and bloodshed, the Tamils of Sri Lanka got a government of their own. It must be said here that the formation of the North-Eastern Council and

elections to the Council would not have been possible but for the intervention of India. Negotiations with the Sri Lankans had been very frustrating all along.

But India’s perseverance finally paid off. Though Jayewardene did not provide financial powers to the Council, the fact that

elections were held and a Tamil Chief Minister was installed in office was

no mean achievement.

In the meantime, presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 19 December 1988. Premadasa became the new President on 2 January 1989. Soon after he assumed office, Premadasa asked the Prime Minister of India

to withdraw the IPKF. It bears reiteration here that Premadasa was vehemently opposed to the Indo–Sri Lankan Agreement and the

deployment of the IPKF from the beginning.

He tried to sabotage the agreement at all stages. The strangest thing he did was to hold secret negotiations with the LTTE. His hatred of the IPKF took him to the extreme extent of secretly supplying arms to the LTTE to fight the IPKF.

To be continued...