Although separated from the pear-shaped island of Sri Lanka by a strip of narrow sea, India is affected by the Tamils of neighboring Sri Lanka.[1] The British planters, unable convert the Sinhalese subsistence farmer into a wage-labourer, chose to draw on the vast reservoir of manpower in what is now Tamil Nadu. Thus, the British planted, not only tea and coffee, but also the seeds of antagonism between the Sinhalese farmer and the Tamil worker, both dark-skinned labourers. The Tamil had come to the Jaffna Penisula and much of the east coast since the 2^nd century A.D. While the Sinhalese already entertained concerns over Tamil dominance, the two Tamil groups could not stand together in the way the Sinhalese believe that they do. The LTTE, or the terrorist organization of some Tamil groups already involved in a kind of a civil war with the Sri Lanakan Army, executed a number of savage acts, the most dramatic being the former India Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination (1991).

For the question of sorting out the rights of minorities, the Tamils in particular, prevailed and dominated Sri Lankan politics. The basic conflict was between the majority Sinhalese (13.4 million, 74%) and the minority Tamils. Almost every Sri Lankan government, starting with that of the first Prime Minister, Stephen Senanayake, strove to harmonize the interests of the main ethnic groups. While the majority Sinhalese, originally from Bengal, are mainly (90%) Buddhist, and speak Sinhala,[2] the tamils are predominantly Hindu and have their own tongue. [3]Two groups constitute the latter, however, one known as “Sri Lankan” (Ceylon or Jaffna) Tamils (2.2 m., 12%) and the other “Up Country (Indian or Estate) Tamils (1.1 m., 6%).[4] The first category constitutes of the descendants of immigrants who came centuries ago from south India. The second category is made up of the sons and daughters of Tamils brought  by the British in the last century or the beginning of the 1900s to work on the tea and rubber plantations. Most of the Up Country Tamils were stateless when the country became independent, and many of them were the most disadvantaged among the population. According to an agreement (1964) between Sri Lanka and India, 975,000 Tamils were to be repatriated,[5] and the rest would be given Sri Lankan citizenship.