The Accord offered the best chance to resolve the Tamil national question but was undermined by successive governments in Colombo

The Accord offered the best chance to resolve the Tamil national question but was undermined by successive governments in Colombo

M.A. Sumanthiran-JULY 27, 2017 

July 29, 1987 was a watershed in Sri Lanka’s history. That was the day Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed an accord with Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene in Colombo, in which Sri Lanka promised to share power with the Tamil people. One cannot also forget the attack on the Indian Prime Minister later that day by a Naval Rating at a Guard of Honour. If not for his quick reflexes, the rifle butt that was swung at him would most certainly have cracked his skull. The history of Sri Lanka would have been very different had he not survived that assault, as also the history of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka if Rajiv Gandhi was not assassinated four years later in Tamil Nadu.

The Accord offered the best chance to resolve the Tamil national question but was undermined by successive... by Thavam on Scribd