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| Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ශ්රී ලංකා ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය இலங்கை சனநாயக சோசலிசக் குடியரசு | |
|---|---|
| Official languages | Sinhala Tamil |
| Area | |
• Total | 65,610 km² |
| Population | |
• 2020 estimate | 22,156,000 |
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia.
History
Sri Lanka was colonized by the British and became independent in 1948.
In 1956, the United National Party established Sinhala as the sole official language of Sri Lanka, causing tens of thousands of Tamil speakers to lose their jobs. In 1976, Tamil organizations adopted a resolution to establish a separate Tamil state called Tamil Eelam and the bourgeois Tamil United Liberation Front was established for this purpose. In the early 1980's, an amendment to the constitution was passed that criminalized separatism and the TULF. During Black July of 1983, 53 Tamil political prisoners were detained under maximum security.[1]
References
- ↑ Surendra (2010-11-18). "Sri Lanka: Lessons of the defeat of the Tamil Tigers" Revolutionary Initiative. Archived from the original on 2021-01-20.