Sri Lanka and state terrorism

From 1985 to 1989, Sri Lanka responded to violent insurrection with equal violence against the Sinhalese majority as part of the counterinsurgency measures against the uprising by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party.

[9] In order to subdue support of the JVP uprising, several acts of cruelty committed by the state were recorded, including the torture and mass murder of school children.

[13][14][15][16] This was echoed by the Secretary of the Movement for Development and Democratic Rights, a non-governmental organisation, which further claimed that the Sri Lankan state viewed killing as an essential political tool.

"[22] This statement has been supported by a report released by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong and associated with the United Nations, which has also claimed that there was widespread terrorism committed by the state during this period.

[28] A spokesman for Human Rights Watch was of the opinion that "the Sri Lankan government has apparently given its security forces a green light to use dirty war tactics.